Colors of Darkness
by ChangeHeart
Summary: Darkness no longer exists because one boy decided to become it's vessel to ensure his world's peace. But peace is not without a cost. The boy has lost many he had once loved and is sent to another dimension, where Darkness still exists. Now, with the help of new friends, the boy's goal is to put an end to the Darkness and make sure peace isn't a dream, but a reality...
1. Chapter 1

"..."

The rain poured onto my back, hitting as hard as hail. My hands were stained with crimson, my breaths was ragged, and there was a body that lay below me, "his" eyes were hollow. "He" was now dead, gone from this world that was so filled with hatred, a world that had once been peaceful, then, as us humans grew and evolved, the world's colors started changing from the once bright colors, to black, the colors of Darkness. What was left behind after Darkness, was hatred, despair, greed, and vengeance. War raged on for generations, "peace" lasted for a minute before being brought back to reality, and the endless cycle continued.

But, that was when "we" had the idea of absorbing the Darkness into ourselves, to finally end the change. However, that wasn't quite what happened. "He' had absorbed half of the Darkness and I had absorbed the other half, but the Darkness had eaten "him" alive, and it was now infused with "his" blood. You're probably thinking ' _It's all fine, the Darkness will dry up, and be forgotten about._ ' Well, you're half right, the Darkness' blood would eventually dry up, but it would then be infused with the ground, and consume what good was still left in this world. Naturally, we both knew this, so I was going to absorb the other half of the Darkness and finally end all of this madness; where peace isn't an illusion, but a reality.

"..."

I cupped up some of "his" blood from the hole in his stomach and, without a second thought, drank it. Then, the world started spinning, my head started banging, as if being constantly smashed by a hammer, and my heart felt so much pain, the pain of all the humans. I gritted my teeth, I wanted this pain to end, but I knew that I had to stop the world's Darkness from consuming the world. I cursed as my vision slowly started to fade to white, and I collapsed onto the cold, hard concrete ground...

* * *

"..."

" _I'm nothing, I know this world will live on like this, even if evolution has just started..."_

 _"Life can't live on like this, there's only death..."_

 _"Love; it's beautiful, but it will only cause us more pain. Can you really risk your happiness for something so bittersweet?"_

 _"I thought this world could be saved, but there's too much change for anyone to stop it..."_

These thoughts, weren't mine, it was all the Darkness that was trying to consume me, even though I knew it couldn't. That was because of my "past". I used to think these exact thoughts, but I was changed by "him", and I had something that nobody had else had. It was-

* * *

"DAMN YOU!"

*CLANK*

"Ow..." I rubbed the crown of my head as I slowly opened my eyes. I was in an alley, there two chipped, brick walls on my left and right, colorful graffiti sprayed across the walls, trash thrown on gray concrete ground, trash bins kicked over, and it was sunny. I definitely got either moved here, or I had been teleported here. I'm going to guess the first one and go with that. But, option B isn't that hard to believe either.

My, previously, stained hands were now clean, my head still hurt a bit from earlier, my clothes were now clean and dry, and, to top it off, I was overlooking a futuristic looking city. The buildings seemed to be made of some type of metal that was more advanced than my world's architectural metals, the buildings were more curved around the edges, including the tips of some buildings, and there was a tower that arched up from three points, made from the same metal described earlier, with many rooftops branching from the tower.

Wherever I was, I seemed to a have, at least, successfully consumed all the Darkness, now I had to be more careful with my emotions if I wanted to keep it from taking control of me. As I sat up, my body winced from aching pain and I fell back onto the concrete floor, causing pain to blow up into my skull.

"Gh!" I couldn't help but let out a cry from the pain,though I knew this wasn't enough to kill me at all, it still did hurt and it didn't help that my head was already throbbing. As I lay, with my face facing upward towards the sky, I wondered what I was going to do now. I didn't know where I was, I never had a home, and I didn't exactly have any money, which meant no food for my stomach. I sighed, this had been a great turn of events, I guess if I ever saw "him" again, I would "thank him" for letting me absorb his share of the Darkness. But, that was for another time, right now, I had to find a place to eat and stay.

As I slowly pulled myself up, I heard footsteps from my behind and quickly turned around. I seemed to have startled the person, or rather girl, because she jumped up a bit when she saw me.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you," she says as she bows down low to apologize.

I wave her apology off to tell her it's fine.

'Don't worry about it, I should be apologizing for scaring you," I say as I also bow.

I look back at her. She has light lilac,brushed, long hair that drops down to her shoulders, with combed bangs. She has fair, smooth skin, a small nose, her eyes are a shade of purple, and she's three or four inches shorter than I am. Her clothes consist of a white choker around her neck, she wears a white jacket dress, which kind of looks like a trench coat, that has purple lining, with thin white stripes. Her jacket dress also has purple buttons and a handkerchief pocket. She also wears a faded yellow ascot like piece, that has a purple 'N' in the center. She has pink and white socks that go all the way up to her knees, with purple boots. Is it a bad thing to say she looks kind of cute? Probably.

"Hm? Is there something on my face?" she starts feeling around her face as she says that.

I let out a chuckle." No, it's nothing, anyway, who are you and where is this because, I don't know where I'm honestly at," I say as she gives me a reassuring smile as I finish speaking.

"Well, I'm Nepgear, and this is Planeptune, this is where my big sis and I live," Planeptune huh? Wished I learned of this place when I was in history class.

"Well, I'm-" I pause. I can't use "that" name, it's too risky. I'll just use "his" name. "I'm Tolise, nice to meet you, Nepgear." I smile.

"Nice to meet you, too. Hey, u-um... I was wondering, d-do... you... have anywhere to stay?" she questions. Actually, I didn't, and I was hungry, maybe she'll let me stay with her for a bit. I shake my head, and she looks down and speaks ever so quietly.

"T-then...do...y-you...want to stay at my place for a bit?"

Huh. I really will have to thank "him" if I ever see him again.

"Sure, thanks, Nepgear."

She doesn't look at me, but instead, nods and walks away from me, and I follow...

* * *

 **Hey, thanks for reading all the way through. This is the first fanfiction I've made so, reviews would be nice. This is also a "pilot" chapter to see what you think. I'll keep working on it, but I'd be nice if you guys left advice and possible ideas to improve. Anyway, thanks for reading, and, hopefully, I'll see you in the future.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

As I walked through crowded streets with Nepgear, I noticed that she kept spacing out and talking to herself. Maybe she was just thinking about something personal or why she was letting some random boy, who she had just met, stay at her home. Whatever the reason was, I wasn't going to bother her, because that's just rude. When I looked at where we were heading, I saw that it was towards the tall tower I saw earlier.

I whispered to myself. "There's no way she lives in that huge tower..."

* * *

As expected, she did live in the tower, but only a certain part of it. When I walked into the tower, or rather, the Basilicom as she calls it, it gave off a church feeling. The room looks like a cathedral, except instead of pillars everywhere, there are flat cream gray walls with black outlining and lights hanging from them. The walkway is a lime green glass floor with rows of black chairs on either side and at the back of the room, was an openable giant rainbow colored window, with a circle and triangle pattern, and a pair of gilded door handles at the center of the window. There were also workers wearing purple and white priest clothes, frantically, trying to finish doing a whole truckload of paperwork. Man, that reminds me of one of "those" times back then, the building part at least. I shook my head. Thinking about that was so bad and it brought back so many painful memories. Then, I felt a tug on my sleeve, turning, I saw Nepgear signaling for me to continue following her. She led me towards the window and pulled it open, revealing a meeting hall with a round table split into two sections, chairs tucked under the tables of their side, and a section, in between the divided tables, that served as a walkway leading to the left, right, and up towards a elevator overlooking the room. While Nepgear led me up the tower, I looked around the room, in a state of pure shock. How was it possible for a girl to live in such a beautiful home, have workers, and still be so nice? I remembered back in my dimension, that there had been some nice rich people, but never this rich or nice.

When we entered the elevator, I noticed a whole bunch of buttons. This was floor one, but the highest floor was a floor fifty. But there were still more buttons on the right side of the elevator, another fifty buttons. I collapsed onto the chrome metal of the elevator. Now, I honestly felt like an asshole for staying with her in such a nice home. As light started beaming the corners of my vision, I turned around to see a glass panel overlooking the city known as Planeptune. As I was about to start having a thinking session, I heard something move behind me, or rather someone. Nepgear slowly squatted down until she was sitting on her bottom, she hugged her legs, and looked up at me, giving off a sincere smile that seemed to take away all my worries. I smiled, she really reminded me of "her".

"What's wrong, Tolise? You haven't talked much since you came here." She asked as questions marks seemed to pop up on top of her head.

I smiled. "Nothing's wrong, I'm just thinking about how grateful I'm feeling that you're letting me stay here."

"O-oh...u-um...it's..n-nothing. You looked kind of lonely when I found you, so I thought I'd take you in."she explained. "B-but...I-I'm...glad...you...decided...to...b-because..." I couldn't hear the last part of what she said, even though I probably knew what it was, I didn't want to jeopardize being friends with such a sweet girl. We didn't talk for the rest of the way up, but I could see her trying to steal glances at me with her flushed face.

* * *

By the time we reached the top, the evening sky was almost finished consuming the blue sky, and Nepgear was asleep on my shoulder, muttering to herself. And no, I'm not going to get excited from this like some stupid main character in a book. Sure, I wasn't perfect, far from it, but I knew better than to expect something more from this, she had simply fallen asleep, and I had let her sleep. When the elevator door opened, Nepgear was still nuzzling against my shoulder, so, I picked her up and carried her like princess, the classic princess carry. She didn't weigh that much, actually she hardly weighed anything at all, so it was easy to carry her. As I walked down the only corridor, with it's colorful purple, pink, and blue alternating walls and cream yellow tiles, I was met with a futuristic looking door, with silver and pink colors, I found a green button on the side, pushed the button, and watched the door open before me.

As I stepped into the room, I was at a loss of breath. On my right, there was a kitchen with white counter tops, a white stove, and a gigantic white fridge with a yellow sticky note that read: **Don't Touch MY Pudding (0_0).** On my left, there were glass panels that stretched the whole wall, a purple couch, a plasma television, with a console, that looked like a giant black D-pad with the center part purple and four disc ports, a purple carpet, and a doorway at the end of left side. As I set Nepgear down on the couch, she slowly rubbed her eyes open, and looked up at me.

"Tolise?"

"Yeah?"

"Why am I asleep on the couch?"

"Because you fell asleep on the elevator."

"I did!?"

"Yup, and little 'ol me had to carry you up here." The funny thing about that, was that she was shorter than I was.

Nepgear slowly sat up. "G-goodness. T-thanks...Tolise."

I shook my head. " It's fine, I'm just paying off my debt that I owe you for letting me stay here," I say as I plop down beside her.

"I-it's fine. Anyway, I need to-"

"INTRUDER! HE'S TRYING TO TAKE SIS' BOD! DON'T WORRY SIS! I'LL SAVE YOU!"

As I look up to see what was the cause of this noise, I see a wooden sword coming down towards me. Crap.

*SMACK* *SLAP* *CRACK* *BREAK* *CRASH*

It was at that moment, that I knew I had fucked up. And before I could say anything else, my vision faded to black, once again...

* * *

 **Well, I was actually planning to release this on Tuesday, but I found some extra time and decided to get this one out. This chapter might seem a nit slow, but the next chapter should be a bit faster. Anyway, in case you're wondering, this takes place after Re; Birth 2 and before Re; Birth 3. Also, I decided on a schedule of uploading on Tuesday, Thursday, and maybe Friday. once again, thanks for reading all the way through, reviews would would be great for feedback and ideas, and I hope to see you in the next chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 _I continued walking through the autumn leaves covering the pavement. It had been probably six years since "that" happened. Now, I was alone in this world, only caring for myself, but I didn't mind. I had learned that the more ties I had, it would only cause me more pain and hate. I sighed, and I was about to walk away, when I felt a tug on my sleeve. Turning around, I saw a girl, who was around my age, smiling at me. She had long sandy brown hair that dropped down to her shoulder blades, messy bangs, a pair of blue eyes, a small nose, and dark skin. Her clothes consisted of a black shirt, with a picture of a smiley face, a pair of white skinny jeans, and murky green boots. I knew that if I talked around that it would be a bad thing, so I turned back around and continued walking, with my head down._

 _The girl then called out for me. "Hey! It's rude to not greet people! If you don't get back here, I'll steal your candy and tackle you!" she threatened._

 _Okay, I might still be around the same age as she was, but my brain was on a completely different level than hers was; I was cold to people and mature, and she was easy going and was always optimistic. I didn't want to ruin her life by involving myself into her equation because, unlike me, she never had "that" happen to her, and she never had to harden her soul to survive. As I kept thinking, I suddenly felt a weight push me down onto the cold, hard pavement, sending a shockwave of pain through my brain. Luckily, due to my "genes", the pain and injury disappeared as fast as it had come._

 _"I gotcha! See, isn't that much more fun than sulking and being all lonely and stuff?" she asked as she jumped off of my back and landed in front of me._

 _I sighed. "No, if you mean the feeling of pain is more fun than being lonely, then no."_

 _She puffed out her cheeks and tried to look angry at me, which just ended up looking like she was pouting instead. "Hey! Don't be such a butt and come play with me! If you do, I'll buy you some candy!" Is this her way of bribing me?_

 _I let out another sigh. It was clear this girl wasn't going to leave me alone and that she would keep bothering me until I decided to go with her. So, as I slowly pushed myself off the pavement,I decided to agree to this._

 _"Alright, I'll go," I say as I roll my eyes._

 _"Yay! We're gonna have lots of fun too!" She really did seem happy about this._

 _"I'll go, but at least tell me your name first. I don't want to keep calling you 'that girl'."_

 _"My name's Jewel! What about you?" My name. Guess I should be honest._

 _"My name, is-_

* * *

"GAH!" I snapped out of my dream, sweat soaked my undershirt, and my headaches were going on again. And for some reason, I was tucked into a snuggly light lilac bed.

"WAH?! You'd you yell? Did you see a giant mountain of pudding in your dreams, because that'd be pretty cool," said the girl in a chair beside the bed.

This was the same girl that had hit me with a wooden sword earlier for trying to, as she put it, "steal my sis' bod". She has fair skin, light purple eyes, was shorter than Nepgear by two or three inches, she has messy bangs, hair that goes down to the tips of her shoulder, a hair color that's slightly darker than Nepgear's, and has two white D-pad like hair clips, while Nepgear only has one on the left side of her hair. She wears a white hoodie dress, with a purple hood, a circular white zipper with a 'N' on it, with purple cuffs and lining, a light blue zipper and shoulder linings. Also, hanging from her hoodie, are two strings that look like plugs, and two big circular zipper pouches on her sides. She, like her Nepgear, also wears a white choker, and striped blue and white stockings that went up to knees, with purple shoes with blue lining. Man, by end of this day, I might turn into a pervert. Now, I know that you may think that turning into a pervert is a bad thing, and it is, but it's better than what I used to be, before I met "him". Anyway, back on topic.

It was time for some questions and answers. "U-um, who're you? And why am I tucked in so snug in this bed?" I really didn't understand why I was in this random bed.

"Well, silly, I'm Neptune and I'm the MAIN character!" she puffs out her chest as she says that. Main character of what?! Is she trying to break some unknown Fourth Wall? "And right now, you're in my cutie patootie room, oh, and Nep Jr's. But the reason you're tucked in so snuggly snug, is thanks to yours truly! Nepgear." Neptune says as she points at Nepgear, who is sitting by a wall of glass panels, cuddling a pillow.

"So, are you Nepgear's sister, cause...u-um...y-your..kinda...shorter than her," I state with a doubtful look.

"NEPU! You think darling 'ol me would lie to you?! *Sniffle* *Sniffle* You're so mean!" She started faking some tears as finished speaking.

I sighed. Well, at least my life wasn't boring or sad anymore. I pulled her towards my chest and patted her head. "It's alright. I'm sorry, okay? Just please stop being so melodramatic and quit crying, please?" I really didn't want to see others so pained.

"H-hey! W-why're hugging me?! I'll quit crying, so just stop!" she pleaded as she tried squirming out of my grip on her.

I let her go and sat up. "Well, if you don't mind, I'm going to get some clothes on, so I need you to leave a man to his private business."

At this statement, Nepgear spoke up. "Oh! I cleaned your clothes for you, and got you a fresh pair of clothing as well. I-I hope you like them." she said, giving a shy smiled.

I smiled. "Thanks, I'm sure I'll like them, Nepgear," I say as I take the clothes from her.

As they left the room, I look in the mirror, at what I have become now, my reflection. I sighed, this was the me created by "him". I slowly peeled off my head bandages, from the sword earlier, and began taking off the rest of my clothes. Maybe, I could finally open up my heart, and start a new life...

* * *

 **This chapter was to describe a little more about his past and to introduce Neptune. This chapter came earlier than it was supposed to because of all the free time lately. Anyway, I'm going to be uploading another one tomorrow, one on Thursday, and maybe Friday. Also, I'm going to be adding more time skips just to speed up the story to get introductions out of the way. Anyway, it's always appreciated for you to leave a review for future ideas and feedback. Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I looked at myself in the mirror and smiled. I'll definitely have to thank Nepgear later for these new clothes. What I had been wearing earlier had been a gray undershirt with a black blazer, black sweatpants, and a pair of navy blue combat boots. Now, as I look at myself in the mirror, I see my jade green eyes, my buzz cut black hair, and my tanned skin. I'm also now wearing a white undershirt, a black running jacket, black jeans, and silver tennis shoes with red lining. I'd say I looked pretty nice. However, my "mark" is still on my back and that's bothering me. I sighed. There wasn't anything I could do about that, I just had to live with it.

As I was about to walk out of the room, I took one last look to see what it really looked like. There were two pink, plastic chairs between a cream yellow table top with a purple carpet underneath. The whole entire room was colored light lilac, with the exception of the left wall being covered by window panes, and there were flat fluorescent lights on the ceiling. At the end of the room, there was a set of purple bunk beds, a pink wardrobe, and a pink outlined mirror, I was starting to see a pattern here. On my right, was an oak wood study table with a bookshelf, filled with books. And lastly, there was a faded yellow tiled floor, with plushies thrown everywhere. This was the room of the two girls that I'd be living with.

When I got out to the living room, Nepgear was playing on some handheld console and Neptune...was chasing a fairy? Now my life certainly wasn't boring. The fairy was about a foot tall, had pale skin, had curly blonde pigtails, she wears a white headpiece with a purple 'N' in the middle, she also wears purple and gold hair ribbons, and has ocean blue eyes. Her clothes consist of a light purple dress with a white collar held together by a circular 'N' button, a light turquoise tie, and white shoes and stockings, with light blue lining. Also, she had a four piece of wings with each having a pink center and cream blue lining, and she was sitting on a giant purple book. Really, what was with the color purple and the letter 'N'? And why was there a fairy?!

I sighed and plopped down next to Nepgear. I think it's personally more fun to watch this, than to join in and possibly be smacked by a sword again. As I leaned back against the couch, Nepgear noticed me and looked up.

"Oh! You've changed your clothes!" she beams me a smile as she looks at my new clothes.

I give her the best smile I can give her, even if it is a bit forced. "Yeah, I love them too. Thanks," I thank her as I pull her towards my chest and wrap my arms around her.

Again, I'm just hugging her as a thanks, nothing more, but, apparently, she doesn't think so. "U-um...w-why're hugging me?" her cheeks start blushing like crazy as she tries to get her sentence out. Man, chill. It's just a hug, but just because we're both of a different gender, it'll always turn into something weird and awkward.

I take a deep breath. "I'm just thankful that you got me some new clothes, it's just my way of thanking you. Do you really hate it that much?"

"NO! I-I mean...um, I don't hate it. I-it just makes me feel uncomfortable in a way," I really don't understand this girl's way of words.

As we break apart, Nepgear tries to cover her face with her hands as she hurries away to the kitchen. "I-I'm...g-going...to...go...help cook," she says as she scurries away. Maybe I overdid it, even if it was just a hug.

I lay back down onto the couch as I watch a wild Neptune chasing a fairy.

"Neptune, please stop chasing me! You can't have pudding tonight!" the fairy says as she continues to fly away on her book.

"Aw c'mon Histy, you said I could have some on special occasions, and we have a guest tonight, so that's a good enough reason to have some!" Neptune argues as she continues to chase 'Histy' around the living room. Man, she reminds me of Jewel, the girl that I had once known.

As I continued to think about my past, 'Histy' came up to me and snapped me out of my trance.

"..!" I fall onto the couch as she starts poking my face.

"Bwahaha! Histy, I didn't know you could kill people with one poke!" Neptune falls onto the floor as she continues laughing.

"Be quiet! I'm trying to understand him, what he is..." oh god. Does she know about me?

I cup my hands around her tiny ear and start whispering. "Does that mean that you know about 'that'?

"Which one? You seem to have a lot?" oh god! She knows all of them?!

"Could you please not tell anyone about any of 'them'?" I really don't want people to know about 'that'.

"Of course! Your heart has changed a lot since 'those' events, so I won't say a single thing about any of it, Lu-!" I clamp her mouth shut before she can say my real name.

"Just call me Tolise. Now, blink for yes, bite for no." I'd strike fear into people's souls if they knew my real name.

She nodded and I let go of her mouth and she let out a sigh. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Tolise. I'm Histoire, a tome that holds all of the recorded history in this book," she explains as she points down at the book she's sitting on.

"Nice to meet you, Histoire. U-um, hey, where'll I be sleeping if I'm going to stay here?" this question has honestly been bothering me ever since I came into here.

"You can stay in the guest bedroom. I'll show you where it is later tonight."

I nod and turn my head towards Neptune, who has just managed to pick herself off the floor.

"Whew! So hey, Mr. No-Faced-Male-Protagonist, what's your name? Because I don't know what your name is."

I put my head to my palm, I have a face that I just described and why didn't you just ask your sister after I was knocked out? "My name is Tolise, Neptune."

"Well then, Turtle," TURTLE!? "It's nice to meet ya too!" she shines me a smile as she finished talking. Ignorance is truly a bliss.

* * *

When nighttime came around, Nepgear made dinner for us, Histoire explained everything about this dimension to me, and I met Neptune's two best friends Compa and IF, you literally say 'IF', not 'if'. IF wears an oversized blue jacket with a big, hanging belt, that has several cellphone pockets for her phones of multiple colors. She wears a black tank top and a short styled one piece with silver lining and dark blue boots. She has fair skin, leaf green eyes, brown hair that goes down to waist level, her bangs are split to the left side of her face and some are split to her right side, and she wears a leaf accessory in her hair. Compa also has fair skin, she has a creamy pink color for hair that runs down to her shoulder blades and curls at the edges, she has a black headband with a faded white "C' on it, and has eyes that match her hair color. Her clothes consist of a faded tan wool styled tank top with a big neck and unattached sleeves, a red and black checkered skirt, faded tan boots, a black choker with a white heart on it, and she's pretty "big" in her...um...chest area. They're both relatively nice, IF seems to be the only one here who isn't "special" and Compa is also nice, but she's kind of slow about things, basically she isn't that smart. The reason they were eating with us, is because they come here to help with work. While I had learned a lot about them, I had also learned a lot about this dimension.

This dimension I was teleported to is called Gamindustri, a land where goddesses, or a CPU(Console Patron Unit), each rule one of the four nations. There's Planeptune, the Land of Purple Progress, which is somehow ruled by Neptune, Lastation, the Land of Black Regality, which is ruled by someone named Noire, Lowee, the Land of White Serenity, ruled by someone named Blanc, and Leanbox, the Land of Green Pastures, ruled by someone named Vert. Each land mass fought for shares, which were basically the beliefs of the people, for power. She explained that there were also CPU Candidates which were created by shares and were like the younger sister of the actual CPU. Nepgear was the CPU Candidate of Planeptune, a girl named Uni was the CPU Candidate of Lastation, a pair of twins named Rom and Ram were the CPU Candidates of Lowee, and, sadly, Leanbox didn't have a CPU Candidate. CPUs and their Candidates could both transform into their HDD forms, which basically changed their appearance and power. It usually changed the CPUs' personality, but not the CPU Candidates' personality. Lastly, the Basilicom was where the CPUs lived and were assisted by an Oracle, Histoire was Planeptune's, Kei Jinguji was Lastation's, Chika Hakozaki was Leanbox's, and Mina Nishizawa was Lowee's. It all actually didn't seem that hard to believe, except for the part about Neptune being a CPU.

I had also learned that IF, Compa, and Nepgear were all pretty good cooks. Neptune however, is...bad. When we had finished eating, Histoire led me to my room and left me there, standing at the door. The room's wall was nothing but chrome, with one window above the bed, it's roof was chrome, and so was the floor, except there was a black carpet. The bed, against a wall in the middle of the room, was a simple queen sized white bed sheet, with a black blanket, with white lining, that covered the entire bed, and the bed and pillow, which had a white pillow case, were both made of memory foam. There was a dark purple wardrobe in the corner right, a black study table, and a chrome drawer. On my left, was a doorway to a bathroom that had a black and red checkered tiled floor, a white tiled wall, and a roof with nothing but fluorescent lights. The shower was a walk in shower with a frameless shower glass door, there was a white toilet, and a black marbled sink with pine wood cabinets underneath, and a mirror above the sink. This really did feel like more than I deserved.

* * *

After I took a quick shower, I changed into my old clothes and lay down on my bed. Did I really deserve this? After all I had done in my past? I know I had done some good things afterwards, but I still felt like I didn't deserve this at all. I sighed as I continued to think until my vision started to blur, and I fell asleep...

* * *

 **This is, sadly, the last day of the chapters being upload everyday. But, at least you have that extra day to catch up for the upload of Chapter 5, which is being uploaded on Thursday, and maybe another chapter on Friday. This might also end all the in depth describing for a while and, again, might focus more on the main story. I would also really like for you who want this story to get better to leave a review for feedback and ideas for future chapters,because I will use most of the ideas, but it's not mandatory. Anyway, thanks again for reading, and I'll see you in the next chapter. ^v^**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 _Why am I here? In this dark void of Darkness, my body felt numb, and I couldn't move. Had the Darkness actually consumed me? …...No, this was something else, some type of message. This was not a dream or a nightmare, but this also wasn't reality, this was the Darkness in it's true form. As I managed to make myself look north, I saw a figure that was colored black and outlined purple. This was the Darkness._

 _"Why am I here?"_

 _"Why? Heh, the same could be said about me..."_

 _"Just tell me before I decide to kill you!"_

 _"You can't kill me; I'm you and you're me. We're the same being. So, if I die, you die..."_

 _Even though I couldn't see any part of it's face, I knew it was giving a sinister smile. "Then, I'll change you too! I'll change you like how "he" changed me!"_

 _It started laughing wildly. "Bwahahaha! You honestly want to live by those 'rules' your "friend" lived by? He was a fool and that is the reason he's dead. Just give it up."_

 _Suddenly, I felt my "power" surge through me, and I stood up. "No, he saved me, and I chose to let his legacy live on. He's the reason we're still alive, and we'll stay alive. But, I want to compromise with you, and I'll free you from your endless pain."_

 _The Darkness let out a chuckle. "Well then, good luck trying..."_

 _As I was about to speak, I blacked out..._

* * *

"U-um...please...wake..up."

"Mmgmhm..."

I couldn't tell who was trying to wake me up, but I didn't want to wake up from my comfy rest. Whoever was trying to wake me up, was trying pretty hard to wake me up, considering they were shaking me.

"Mmgh...five more minutes..."

"Ughh..."

As I continued to sleep, and being disturbed by somebody trying to wake me up, I heard my door open.

"Well smack my bottom, the guy still ain't up yet huh?"

"No, he seems to really want to sleep."

The other person started giggling. "Well, I've got something that'll definitely wake him up."

"Hey! Don't use that, it'll definitely hurt him!"

"Nah! He'll be fine!"

"Sis, no!"

*CRACK* *BREAK* *SNAP* *CRASH* *BREAK* CRASH*

* * *

"Ow..." I sit on the couch, wrapped in bandages, trying not to move my aching body. This is the second time that I've been beat by Neptune's wooden sword.

"I'm sorry, Tolise. I didn't mean for you to get hurt trying to wake you up." Nepgear gets down on her knees, claps her hands together, and starts begging for forgiveness. Geez, it wasn't that bad. Even though I lost "those" genes, I still had "that" that healed my aching body, which is already almost healed.

I stretch out my hand and pull her into a hug. "It's fine. It doesn't even hurt that much anymore, but thanks for caring so much about me."

"Mhm..." um, why isn't she letting go? All I did was give her a hug and—wait a second...

"Um, Nepgear, um...can you let go?"

"Is it okay if we stay like this for a bit longer?" I've never been in a relationship before, but I already know where this is going.

"Sure."

While I did enjoy her body heat, it also felt extremely wrong to do this because this was a girl that I had just met yesterday that had been nice enough to invite me to stay at her home, also I was afraid of Neptune beating me again. Because, like the saying says: "Don't judge a book by it's cover", for the reason that she's crazy strong! I don't know how long we stayed like that, but we enjoyed every second of it, and it made me feel like I had finally found some people to care about, once again. I just hope that I won't lose them...

* * *

As I ate my breakfast, which consisted chicken rice porridge, I watched as Histoire scolded Neptune.

*Munch* *Chew*

"Neptune, you have to do your work! You're a CPU! It's your job!"

"Aw, but Histy, that's so lame! I'd rather sit on this comfy couch while Nep Jr does all the work. She's gonna be a CPU one day, so we gotta let her learn!"

*Chew* *Chew* *Gulp*

"But you were like this even before she was born! If you keep this up, we'll lose all our shares!"

"Nope!" Neptune flopped onto the ground as she objected.

Histoire let out a sigh. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Hey, maybe I could go do some work with Nepgear," I didn't exactly have anything else to do.

"Really!? But your our guest and-"

"No buts. I want to help out because it's not really fair if I get to stay here for no cost," because I would turn into Neptune.

"You'll really go?! Wow! Thanks a bunch and stuff! This way, Nep Jr won't be all lonely and clingy, plus you can protect her from any tentacle monsters trying to take her first!" woah, chill.

"Whatever, I just need to go buy a weapon."

* * *

We, and by we I mean Nepgear and I, are now doing a quest that some old man had asked us to complete. The quest was to clear out a forest of all the Dogoos, which are blue dog slime things, and then we'd be paid. The weapon I had picked had been a simple katana with a shiny silver blade, with a gold cross guard, a red hilt, and a black sheath. The katana had always been the easiest weapon for me to use and it had helped me with not using "that" during "that". While Nepgear and I walked through the forest clearing, several Dogoos jumped out of some nearby bushes. There appeared to be about ten or twelve of them. I unsheathe my blade, while Nepgear materialized a beam saber, which had a purple beam, a circular cross guard with a purple 'N' on it, with a purple and white striped hilt, and we dashed towards them.

*SLICE* *SWING*

I jumped above the group of Dogoos and did a three sixty degree spin horizontally, then, controlling my fall and using gravity, slashed down on one, causing it to explode into millions of blue gel bits.

*CUT* *SLASH* *SLICE*

Then I swept my feet around in a one eighty and bent my back backwards and cut as many Dogoos as I could while I finished the spin, making more gel fly everywhere.

*SHK* *BMP*

I let my instincts take over and sidestep to the left, avoiding an oncoming Dogoo, and stab it in the eye, and threw off the blade, towards a tree trunk. I spun around to see three more bouncing towards me and ran towards them.

*SHWING* *CHK*

When they jumped into the air, and were almost directly above me, I did barrel roll underneath them, then, as I regained my footing, jumped backwards and did a quick horizontal slash in the direction behind me, cutting all three Dogoos in half.

*Tmp*

As I landed on my feet, I turned to see Nepgear finish off the last Dogoo with a downward diagonal slash. I jogged up to her.

"D-did we kill them all?"

"Maybe, but there could still be more. There can't just be twelve."

"Okay! Let's keep looking for more of-"

*CRASH*

"Them...Oh, goodness." Nepgear backed behind me as she stared at the giant shadow casting over us.

There was a giant Dogoo and by giant, I mean as tall as a building and as wide as the whole clearing.

"Nrahh..." oh god. It makes noises. Great...

I take another stance, open a level of 'it', turning my eyes crimson, and face the giant thing of jelly in front of me. "TIME TO DIE, FUCK HEAD!"

* * *

 **Hey guys! I decided that I'm going to try to upload more chapters at your request, but there's no guarantee. Also, I'll try to upload a few tomorrow. On a different note, this was my first fight scene I had written, so feedback would be appreciated for improvements on future fight scenes, PM me or write a review. Anyway, the schedule will still remain the same, but, again, I'm going to try to upload more. Well, that's all I got to say. Make sure you leave a review for future ideas or feedback for better writing, or PM me if you don't want people to see what you think. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time!**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

*BOOM* *CRASH*

I took cover behind a pile of branches as the Dogoo kept pounding the ground. This thing could easily be killed with it's giant range, but that was also the reason why I couldn't attack, at least not under it. Nepgear was hiding behind a tree opposite of me. I wanted her to help back me up with what I was about to do, but I also didn't want her to get hurt. I gripped the hilt. Oh well, I work better alone anyways. I waited until the Dogoo turned it's back towards me, then I threw the blade into it's back. As it was pushed forward a bit by the force, I dashed towards it, jumped from the hilt onto his head, grabbed the blade, and stabbed it into his head.

"RAHH!" It bounced around wildly as it tried to shake me off.

I drove the blade deeper into it's body, causing blue gel to splash onto my face. As it continued to jump around, I looked up to see an incoming tree. The world suddenly slowed to where time was now being measured in milliseconds and everything around me was a shade of red. This was the first power of "it". I pulled out the blade, jumped over the tree, and got off the Dogoo, before time returned to normal. The Dogoo slammed into the tree and now had a dazed like on it's face. I smiled sinisterly as the Darkness combined with "it" and time slowed down again.

I put my right foot in front and slightly twisted it, then I moved my other foot behind me and slightly bent it, and turned my body to the side, my head facing my target while my body faced my right. I waited until it finally stopped thrashing around and then dashed towards it, power slowly charging the blade, giving it an aura of purple and red flames. I stopped centimeters away from it's face and thrusted the sword into it's body once again. Then I pulled the blade out, did several more strikes around the area I had just stabbed, then I jumped back. I jumped into the air, did a three sixty spin in the air, and preform a downwards strike right down the middle of my target, making it blow up into many blobs of blue gel. Then time returned to normal as I let my "power" drift away.

*SHK* *SLASH* *SLICE* *SHWING* *BOOM*

Everything that I had just done seemed to happen almost the instant I let my "powers" drift away. The millions of blobs of jelly that had just been splattered everywhere seemed to multiply and splatter more jelly, the ground where the giant Dogoo had once been seemed to blow up, blowing dust debris everywhere, and I felt a gentle breeze blow across my face, as my eyes returned back to their normal shade of green. I let out a sigh and stretched my body. It had been so long since I had done that, and if that wasn't bad enough, the Darkness had somehow found a way to combine with "that". I guess it made sense considering they were both in my body, but if I let the Darkness take control of me, then I would become a killing machine, and, eventually, destroy Gamindustri. And not as Tolise, but for who I really was, Lu-

"Hey! Tolise, are you okay?" I was broke from my train of thought as I turned to see Nepgear running towards me. I really was thankful that I met someone that cared so much about me and it made me smile.

I sheathed my blade and walked towards her. "I'm fine, I didn't get-OOF!" The air was knocked of me as was tackled to the ground.

*Thud*

Luckily, my head hit some grass, but there was something way more painful in front of me right now.

Tears dampened my white shirt as a girl buried her chest into it and cried.

"*Sniff*...I *hic*….thought..that *sniff*..y-you...were killed...*hic*….a-and..*sniff*...t-that...scared...me! Please...*sniff* d-don't...d-do *hic* that...*sniff*..again."

I didn't know what to do. I really never had someone care about my own well being this much before. I never had meant to make her cry. All I wanted to do, was to protect her from danger. I cared about her, but I wouldn't go as far as to say it was love, not yet. But I did care about her enough to not want to see her cry and be sad. I wrapped my arms around her and we stayed like that, for the second time that day...

* * *

"…"

"Hey, Nepgear."

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry I made you cry, I didn't mean to make you worry."

"Then, why'd you do that? Why'd you attack the giant Dogoo on your own and not ask for any backup?"

I turned to her and smiled. " That's because, I care about you, and, no matter what, I won't let the people I care about die."

The gentle breeze of the wind blew her hair to the side, making her look ever so innocent as she blushed wildly. Nepgear closed her eyes and gave me a cheerful smile. "Thank you..."

This might be a bit late to say, but we had moved to the edge of a mountain and we were now sitting on top of a giant, flat rock, watching the sunset. This made my heart feel at peace, a peace that I hadn't felt in years...

* * *

 _"Hey Jewel! Wait for me!" I ran as I tried to catch up to her._

 _Jewel stuck out her tongue and continued to run. "You'll have to catch me first!"_

 _As Jewel kept running, she bumped into two large men, who were both the size of gorillas, and fell onto the grass._

 _"Hey! What's your problem?! Watch where you're going! I got places to be ya' know!"_

 _"I could say the same about you, squirt. Maybe we'll beat some sense into ya. " The two men cracked their knuckles and cast shadows over Jewel, who was cowering in fear._

 _*CRACK*_

 _"What the-_

*THK*

 _"Ugh!" The guy fell to the ground as I punched him in his gut. My "genes" and my inner "self" were awakening and combining._

 _"Just who are you anyway?!" The man demanded as he charged at me with a knife._

 _Time slowed down. Everything was shaded crimson and time had slowed down dramatically. I quickly swiped the knife from the man, stabbed him in the neck with it, then broke the knife before time resumed._

 _As the colors returned, the man fell over, gasping for air before dying. As I turned around to look for Jewel, my anger rose again. There were several men beating her._

 _*CRACK* *SMACK*_

 _"AGH! P-please...j-just..sto-AH!" She whimpered in pain as she collapsed onto the dirt._

 _"Not yet girlie. We still have to make your boyfriend pay for killing our boss!"_

 _*CRACK*_

 _"P-please...*hic*...s-stop...*sniff*…..please."_

 _"Heh, what's your boyfriend going to do? Stop-"_

 _*BOOM*_

 _"WHAT THE HELL?!"_

 _"GRAAHHHH!"_

 _"T-that...boy...is...is...t-the...th-"_

 _*RIP*_

 _"GAH!"_

 _I was going to kill all these pricks for hurting her so much. I was going to show them fear._

 _"So, are you assholes ready for your redemption?" I gave them a wicked smile._

 _"N-no...please...w-we're sorry!"_

 _"Sorry? Didn't you ever learn that action is more important than asking for forgiveness? Because now, you all are going to know. KNOW WHAT HELL ITSELF FEELS LIKE!"_

 _I sprinted towards them, my vision slowly turning red, before I lost consciousness, and let "it" take over me._

* * *

"We're home!" Nepgear popped her head through the doorway as we returned home.

"Hey! Why'd you two get home so late?!" Neptune let out a gasp. "Wait a minute, you defiled my sister didn't you!? You must really be a weird tentacle monster! Histy! Tolise is actually a tentacle monster!" Histoire, who had been looking through a book, looked up at Neptune, but just sighed and returned to looking her book.

Nepgear and I had spent a lot of time together, talking, laughing, playing, and being happy, which caused us to return home while the moon was coming up. I sighed. I did love Neptune's randomness, no matter how crazy it was.

"Look, Neptune, we just finished our quest, got our pay, and came back. That's all." Actually I left out a few things, but they weren't bad things or important.

"Pay!? Did you get some pudding, or cake, or better yet, some pudding?" I feel like this girl likes pudding way too much.

"No, we just got some Credits. It should be enough to buy you a few pudding packs," In this dimension, Credits are the money currency. I handed her the Credits

"Sweet! Thanks to you all the way up to the milky stars or whatever," First of all, it's called the Milky Way, second, what kind of thanks was that?! I sit on the couch and bury my head into my hands. I'll never understand that girl.

* * *

After I had finished dinner leftovers, which was a stir fry of chicken, bell peppers, and onions with a bowl of rice, I headed to my room to take a shower. As the warm water flowed down my body, I kept finding myself thinking about today. I didn't want to lose Neptune, Histoire, and Nepgear. Even if I had only known them for a day, they all felt like family to me; a real family. But, I also didn't want to let the Darkness control me or "it". If I could somehow find a way to compromise with the Darkness, I could fully control my emotions, and protect the people I cared about.

* * *

While I laid on my bed, looking at the shiny chrome ceiling, I thought about how I had been in the past. How I had felt so much pain and sorrow. And it was all thanks to those first two "events" when I was born. Maybe, if those "events" hadn't occurred, maybe I would have lived a normal, happy life. But, I didn't and I would have to keep walking down the path that was carved for me. Or I could stray away from the path, and see where that took me. As I continued to ponder about this, I felt my eyelids become heavy, and I fell into a deep sleep...

* * *

 **Hey, sorry for the late upload. I had some errands to run and I wanted this chapter to be a good chapter, and I think it is. Even though, depending on where you're at, this was uploaded midnight** **Saturday, I still feel like you'll enjoy it. Again, I'm sorry for not uploading it sooner, but stuff got in the way. Also, another reason this chapter took so long, was believe I believe in quality over quantity. So I thought instead of uploading a bunch of trash chapters consistently, I would upload one chapter with passion in it. Anyway, thanks again for reading, leave me review or PM me for feedback and future ideas, and I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

 _"…"_

 _"So, you're back again. Good to see you." I was back, facing the Darkness again._

 _"Why'd you combine with 'it' while I was fighting? Were you trying to take over my body that badly?"_

 _The Darkness' silhouette created a smile. "I was simply 'helping' you win the battle. Plus, I was just 'bonding' with 'it'."_

 _"No, you're lying. What're you REALLY after?"_

 _It laughed aloud, making it wish I could punch it. "You're clever, I'll give you that, but if you figured that out, then it wouldn't be much of a surprise anymore. Would it?"_

 _"SHUT UP AND ANSWER MY QUESTION!" I felt the red heat start coursing through my body._

 _"Yes! Come at me! Do your worst, you-"_

 _"SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH!"_

 _The black void around us changed to crimson, revealing the Darkness' black figure, as I charged towards the Darkness, lunged myself at it and aimed a punch at it's face._

 _*BOOM*_

 _"...!"_

 _When the black smoke, from the Darkness, cleared, I was in a complete state of shock. The Darkness absorbed all the force with it's pinky. Level Two's power didn't seem to even phase it. I jumped back._

 _"Heh."_

 _"…"_

 _Was this the power of Darkness? All that gathered hate and revenge channeled all into one being, inside of me. As I was about to activate Level Three, I found the Darkness right in front of me, staring at me with the piercing eyes of "it". It let out a chuckle, raised it's index finger up to my forehead, centimeters away, and formed a grin._

 _"Maybe another time I'll tell you the answer."_

 _It's index finger tapped my forehead and I felt all the strength leave my body as I blacked out._

* * *

"Zzzz ...*snore*….zzz...mmg," I twisted around in my sheets.

I heard my door open. Whoever it was, I just wanted them to leave so I could sleep in peace.

"So, you got it?"

"Yeah."

Two people were in my room again. Look, just let me sleep. Using "it" really takes it out of me. Suddenly, I felt a soft, sharp, and rough brush touch my face, slowly and shakily stroking my face, and causing me to wince. I didn't care, as long as I got to sleep. When the brush stopped stroking, my face felt wet, at least I could finally sleep now.

"Come on, let's leave before he wakes up."

"Zzz..*snore*…..zzzz..."

"You head out first, I'll catch up in a sec."

"Okay..."

As I continued to drift back into the land of dreams, I felt a soft sensation of flesh press against my forehead, causing me to sink deeper into my bliss, and fall asleep again.

"...I hope he doesn't know it's me..."

* * *

"*Yawn*...Mmgh. Man, what time is it?" I rubbed my eyes as I looked at an alarm clock sitting on my table. It read '12:08 P.M.'.

I stretched my arms and went to the bathroom to take a shower. As I took off my tank top and looked in the mirror, my sun turned into a frown. My face been painted as a white clown mask, with eye holes that had black outlining, my nose was colored red, and I had a stereotypical black Italian mustache painted above my upper lip. So, this was what happened while I was trying to sleep. But what had been that 'other' thing that had touched my face? I heaved a sigh. Whatever it had been, I guess I could find out at breakfast today.

As I arrived at the table filled with plates of pancakes, bacon, and toast along with a pitcher of orange juice, I noticed that there were three new people sitting at the table, but, since I was too distracted by something else, I decided not to pay much attention to them.

"Mowrng, Torrize!" Neptune scarfed some more food down her mouth as she greeted me.

I took a seat right next to her, took a napkin, and wiped her mouth. "Neptune, slow down while you're eating. You might end up choking, or even barf back up what you just ate." This girl really did act like a child, but that's what I liked about her. It was like I had a younger sister.

"Thanks, bud! But you better start eating before Grandma Nep eats it all!" She returned to gobbling up food as she advised me.

But, she was right. I did need my energy to be up to work for today. I took a plate of pancakes and drank some orange juice as I ate.

*Chew* *Chew* *Gulp*

"Hey, Neptune..*chew* *gulp*...did you come into my room while I was trying to sleep?"

"Yup! You were sleeping like a grizzly bear!" Wait, what do I do while I sleep?!

"So, um, does that mean that you-"

*BMF*

"Ow..."

My chin hit the table as I was kicked in the shin under the table by Neptune. I rubbed my chin as everyone gave me an awkward glance. I looked over at Neptune and leaned close to her ear.

"I guess we'll talk about this later."

"Y-yeah."

We spent the rest of the time eating in silence. I was honestly having an interesting morning.

* * *

The streets of Planeptune were filled with pairs of lovers as Neptune and I made our way towards a park. Nepgear was at home trying to do her sister's paperwork as Neptune and I went to the park. I honestly felt bad for Nepgear. As we reached the park, I bought two vanilla cones from an ice cream cart, and gave one to Neptune while we went to sit at the nearest open bench.

"*Lick*... *Slurp*...Man, this is some creamy good ice cream." Neptune smiled as she continued licking her ice cream.

I wiped some off her lip with my finger, causing her to giggle, while I continued eating mine.

"*Lick*...*lick*… Hey, Neptune." She finished eating her cone as I turned to speak to her.

"Yeah, what's up?" She tilted her head to the side as she gave me a questioning look.

I popped the rest of the cone into my mouth. "*Gulp*...Well, about this morning. I was wondering if that was you?"

Her cheeks turned a tinge of red when I asked her. "U-um...yeah. I was trying to play a prank on you. D-did...you know what I did?" She stared at her feet as she asked.

Well, I got two choices here. A: Tell her I knew and make things possibly awkward between us, or B: Tell her I only thought it was her and just say I was sleeping. Both options were bad if you thought about it. I could either hurt her feeling or make things awkward between us. I sighed, there was only one way to solve this.

"No, I didn't know because I was only half awake, I just had a feeling you painted my face."

"So...you didn't feel that other thing, did you?" Neptune looked kind of sad as she drew up her conclusion.

I scratched the back of my head. "Look, I don't know what you're getting so sad about, but cheer up! It's Valentine's Day. Let's go do something." I grabbed her small hand pulled her along back into the city.

Her cheeks were really turning red now. "H-hey! We're not lovers or anything, so why are we doing something on Valentines Day?"

I let out a chuckle. "Just because we're not lovers, doesn't mean we still can't have fun."

* * *

When we returned to the bustling streets of Planeptune, I noticed a nearby arcade and quickly pulled her in.

"KYA!" I guess she wasn't expecting such a sharp turn.

"Well, you ready to have some fun?" I looked over at her. Neptune's eyes were sparkling as she looked around the arcade. It was filled with crane machines, arcade machines, and food booths.

"Yeah! Let's go get billions of tickets so we can win that lifetime supply of pudding!" She pointed to a coupon for a twelve pack of pudding that was worth one ticket. If they restocked these, then does that mean that she'll cash in as many coupons as she can? Is this girl's drug pudding?

Neptune then grabbed my hand and dragged me to a shooting gallery. There were three rows of targets, the middle row had fast-moving small targets, the top row had slow-moving big targets, and the bottom row had small targets that appeared randomly. I put a few Credits into a slot below the table that separated us from the targets. Two cork guns along with six corks popped out of a hole on my right and I handed a gun and three corks to Neptune.

*DING*

As I finished loading my gun, I saw Neptune hit a target on the bottom corner. Man, I don't want to be beat by Neptune. So, I aimed my gun, and letting my instincts do the work, fired the gun at the bottom row, connecting with the target as it came up.

*DING*

"Hey! That's not fair! I'm supposed to have better stats than you!"

"Well, I guess my stats are just higher."

Neptune puffed out her cheeks. "Mmm...Fine! We'll play until you feel like quitting!" Challenge accepted.

* * *

It had been about a hour since we started playing. We have played about fifty rounds, causing me to burn through hundreds of Credits, Neptune loss, and there was now a mountain of tickets on Neptune's left.

"You cheated! You hacked into the game so that the targets would always come up when you shot!" Neptune, why would I do that?

"I didn't cheat! I just have better stats than you!" I poked her forehead with my finger. "Plus, we can now buy all the pudding you want!"

Neptune rubbed her forehead but perked up when she heard 'pudding'. "Yeah! Let's go buy all the pudding in the world!"

The guy who had been working at the prize corner dropped his jaw when he saw the giant stack of tickets that we had collected. "W-what...would...you...like?"

"I want all the pudding coupons I can get with all these tickets!" Neptune shoved all the tickets on the guy as he pointed to a box of pudding coupons.

I picked up the box of coupons and Neptune and I left the arcade. It was already afternoon. "So, Neptune, what do you want to do now?"

Neptune closed her eyes to think. "Hmm...how about...we go eat there!" I looked past the box to see where Neptune was pointing at. A café.

* * *

I sat down at a booth across from Neptune while a waitress came up to us. "Hello, what would you to like?"

I glanced at the menu in front of me. "I would like some black tea and a croissant." She scribbled down my order on a notepad then looked at Neptune. "I want some of this pudding pie!" Neptune pointed at the picture of a vanilla pudding pie. The girl quickly jotted some more notes on her pad and left us.

"Hey, Tolise..."

"Yeah, what's up?"

"I-I'm sorry for kicking you this morning," Neptune stared down at the table top as she struggled to get her words out.

"Oh, well, I forgive you. I wouldn't have wanted to talk about your 'prank' around others too."

"Thanks, but, did you really not know what that other thing I did was?"

I leaned back in my seat. "I did."

"NEPU! Then, why didn't you say anything?"

I grabbed her hand. "Because I didn't want things between us to be weird and awkward."

Neptune blushed a bit again. "Mmg...I-"

"Here you guys go." The waitress came back with our food and left us to eat.

I thanked her and took a sip out of my tea. "So, what were you—Mf!" Neptune shoved a piece of pie in my mouth as she ate her food. Is this punishment for actually knowing about this morning?

"Dawnt hury abot it!" Neptune filled her mouth with food while I tried my best not to choke.

Guess I wasn't getting an answer today...

* * *

 **Happy Valentines Day to you all! I wanted to make a chapter today but since I didn't feel like making something with too much of the main story, I decided to make a Valentines Day chapter. Also if you're wondering, the reason this chapter was focused on Neptune, was because I'm not going to tell you who Tolise is going to pick as a girlfriend. No, I'm not just going to focus on one character and forget about the others. Anyway, I promise I'll get a chapter in tomorrow and I'll try to make it long. So, thanks for reading once again, hope you had a happy Valentines Day, and PM or write a review for future ideas or feedback. Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I heaved a sigh as I placed the last crate on the carpet.

"My arms are going to fall off..." I closed my eyes.

It had been three hours since Neptune and I were in the café. Since Neptune had refused to answer my question, we decided to exchange our box of coupons for fifteen crates of pudding, each crate weighing a hundred pounds. Since Neptune had already gone home, I had to walk a mile back with each crate, carry the crate up to the living room, then go back, and repeat the process. Nepgear had offered to help, but I didn't want to bother her with something that was caused by me. I dragged myself onto my bed and closed my eyes. I couldn't feel my arms anymore. Even though "it" could heal them real fast, I chose not to let it because I was afraid the Darkness would slip in.

*CLANG* *CLANG*

While I lay there trying to get some rest, I heard a knock at my door.

"Hey! Can I come in or not?!"

"Mggmm...just...let me...sleep," I was getting a strange sense of déjà vu.

"Man, why did I have to choose you?"

I heard the door open and looked up. In front of me was a girl with pale fair skin, she had long black twin tails that reach her waist, held together by two piece black and blue ribbons, her bangs were neatly combed, covering a bit of her head, and she had a pair of red eyes. She wears strapless black dress with gold linings and buttons, underneath the dress is red cloth with black spiked lining, while the breast area is white. Also, she wears a double layered white skirt with black lining, held by a big blue ribbon, and a black and white collar with a gold piece in the middle. She also wears a black detached sleeves with white frills and knee high black boots.

"Um...Why are you in my room?"

"B-because I'm here to wake you up! It's not like I wanted to meet you or anything." You basically just gave away your intentions.

I sit up on my bed and stretch my arms. "Well, I'm Tolise, good to meet you."

"I'm only going to say this once so don't ask again, my names Noire, the CPU of Lastation."

"Well, good to meet you, Noire."

"Same to you, I guess." I just met you and you already seem to not like me.

I sighed. "So, what'd you really come in here for?"

Noire's cheeks turned a tint of red. "U-um...I...need you to...help me with something." Why are you blushing?

I get up from my bed and look at her. "Okay, I'll help. What do you need help with?"

Noire started to stutter and averts her eyes. "T-that's a s-secret. J-just...don't worry about it." Just roll with it Tolise, just roll with it.

I strap my sheathed sword onto my back, just in case. "Okay, let's go."

"O-okay..."

* * *

Noire had, for some reason, taken me to Lastation. To me, it looked like a dystopian nation that you'd see in a book or movie. There are factories everywhere, the bridges are made of some type of metal, there are black towers that are flat around it's sharp edges, and there's a giant satellite dish branching from a curved building top. As we walk under the towers in a ravine type area with planted bushes and cream white pavement, I notice that Lastation is entirely industrial. We walked for about ten more minutes until we reached a shopping district selling Otaku goods. Wait, what're we buying?! Noire led me to a shop that sold cloth on the nearest left and stopped me at the doorway.

"Can you...um...wait outside, please?"

"Sure, but why?"

She blushed a bit at my question. "Y-you don't need to worry about that. J-just...please wait."

I leaned against the shop's wall and sighed. "Alright, have fun shopping. I'll wait for you to finish out here, okay?"

Noire forced a smile. "T-thanks, Tolise."

I watched her head in before looking up at the sky. The blue sky; the only bright thing...

* * *

 _The minute I was born, the pain began._

 _My mother had just given birth to me, and my father had been killed by something the minute my mother called to tell him about my birth. This caused her to believe that I was cause of her death, which made no sense. So, while we were at home, my mother would leave me in an empty room all day with no food or social interaction. Every time she came in to see me, she would always look at me with terrified eyes, as if I were a demon. Somehow, I survived this for a year, but my body was badly damaged. One day, while I was asleep, somebody in my dreams gave me special genes that allowed me to survive the cruelty of being alone, I no longer needed to eat, and I could walk and talk like any other person, even though I was only a year old. But, when I went to go see my mother, that was when "it" all happened..._

* * *

"Tolise, hey!"

*SMACK*

"OW!" I rubbed my cheek to ease the burning pain that I had just received. "Oh, hey Noire."

"Don't 'hey' me! You've been standing there for five minutes, just looking at the clouds. Look, it's already evening, so we have to hurry."

I looked around to see that everything had an orange tint to it. That's also when I noticed Noire had several bags in both of her hands. "Whoops, sorry."

"Sorry's not good enough. Redeem yourself by carrying my bags and paying for dinner." Wait, dinner?!

Noire shoved the bags at me as I slung two on each shoulder and held five in each hand. "Um...What do you mean by dinner?"

"Isn't it obvious? We're going to go eat dinner, and you're paying." I only have about a thousand Credits left! Are you trying to wring me out of money?

"Okay, just make sure I can pay for it."

"Of course, it's not like I'm going to make you pay for it all or anything." Wait, so I'm paying for the entire meal!?

"Alright, let's go."

* * *

*Chew* *Chew*

We ended up deciding to eat at a sushi bar. Noire and I had chose to share a pot of green tea. I ordered a plate of tuna and shrimp sushi, while Noire ordered a plate of every type of sushi available with an extra roll with a cat design on it. I gulped. The thought of my empty wallet made me want to cry.

"*Chew* *Chew* *Gulp!* Mmm...this taste great! I'm glad we came here." Noire shined a genuine smile. It always did make me happy to see people happy. But why was there just this one random sushi bar here? Everywhere else served comfort food. Oh well, at least Noire was happy. But not my wallet.

I took a sip of my tea. "*Chew* Chew*...*Gulp*...Hey, Noire," Noire looked up at me when I addressed her. She was on her last roll of sushi. I wiped a grain of rice off her cheek with my thumb, causing her to blush a bit. "Why'd you ask me to come with you?"

"*GULP!* U-um...it's..because..I-I...had..nobody...else to...come with, " Noire averted her gaze from me. "It's not like I'm lonely or anything," she quickly added. That's actually really sad.

Noire kind of reminded me of the past me. Lonely, and nobody that truly loved him. That was probably how Noire felt right now. She was like what I used to be, in a way. But, I didn't want anyone else to go through the pain that I had gone through.

"Look, Noire." I forced her to look at me. She had tears at the corners of her eyes, she was about to cry.

"W-what?"

"You're not lonely and don't let anyone tell you that."

"B-but I don't have...*sniff*any friends."

"Yes you do."

"No...*hic*...I don't. Neptune and the others always say I never have any." Tears were now slowly flowing down her face. I couldn't take this anymore.

I leaned in closer to her, wrapped my arms around her and pulled her towards my chest. Her crying ceased, but she was still sniffling. "Huh?"

"Noire, you do have friends. Neptune and the others are your friends, they just have their own way of showing their friendship."

"B-but-"

"No buts. If you really don't believe they're your friends, then..." I looked right into her puffy eyes. "I'll be your friend."

"W-what?"she shocked to hear what I just suggested.

"If you ever need a friend, then just come to me."

Noire started crying again, making my shirt damp. "Hey, why are you crying?"

"*Sniff*..*hic*….T-thank you...Tolise." Noire wrapped her arms around mine as she continued to cry. Not tears of sadness, but tears of joy. I didn't care how much this meal cost me, as long as I could make my friend feel better.

* * *

*KA-CHING*

I now only had one Credit left in my wallet. Oh well, at least Noire was happy. It was now nighttime. I walked Noire back to her Basilicom, which turned out to be the satellite building, while Noire clung to my right arm. When we reached the Basilicom, I helped her move the multiple shopping bags into the Basilicom.

Noire smiled at me while I was getting ready to head home. "Thanks for helping me out, Tolise."

I smiled back. "It's no problem. Just remember, if you ever need anything, just come to me."

Noire's cheeks turned a bit red. "Yeah...Thanks."

I waved her goodbye and headed off back to Planeptune, looking at the dark sky...

* * *

 **YAY! Look at that I kept my promise this time. I just felt like I HAD to post this one on the promised day for not keeping my promise on Friday. There should be another chapter tomorrow, it's halfway done, but no promises. Also, I'll usually end up uploading around ten to eleven P.M. . On top of that, the posting schedule will still be the same, but I think I'll try to write whenever I get free time. Anyway, this chapter, if you couldn't tell, is focused on Noire. The idea of Noire being lonely was always cool and all, but I kind of felt bad for her, so I decided to let Noire have friends (Cue the incoming hate). But, thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time!**

 **P.S. I won't ask for a review anymore because I feel like it's being forced. You can leave one or PM me if you want for future chapter ideas, feedback to make my writing better, or just leave a comment. Again, it's not mandatory.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

*SLASH!* *CHK!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*

The two Kilachines blew up as I landed back onto the ground and debris flew past me. The stadium of people cheered as I sheathed my blade and the simulation ended. I sighed and walked towards the bidders' stand.

"A good win as always, sir." The bidders handed me two bundles of Credits.

I tossed a bundle back to them. "Thank you, but I really don't care much about the money, I just use this place to sharpen my skills. You guys can split that bundle amongst yourselves."

The bidders looked at me in disbelief. "B-but sir! This bundle alone is about half a million Credits! Are you sure?"

I let out a chuckle. "It's fine. Just make sure you have a stronger simulation available next time. This one was too easy."

"Of course sir. Thank you very much for your kindness."

I walked away, waving my hand to signal a 'You're welcome'.

A few days had passed since I had comforted Noire. Ever since then, she has come by to Neptune's Basilicom to see us. Neptune would tease her about it, but Noire wouldn't let it affect her and would tease back. Since Nepgear and I didn't want to interfere, we would always work on building robots, because Nepgear called it 'fun'. I didn't mind though. Other times, Noire would help me complete a quest for someone. We would talk and joke while we did the quest and that seemed to make Noire happy. One day, Noire had decided to show me a place known as the Coliseum. Basically, you could fight monsters there, and get a pay depending on the bidding. Noire and I did a few that day and split the payment between us. The day after, I placed a bet with Neptune that if she couldn't beat me at a FPS game, that she would have to come with me to do work. I ended up winning, so I dragged Neptune out with me to do some quests. But since Neptune wasn't motivated, I made another bet with her. The bet was that for every five quest she completed, I would buy a dozen pudding cups. After we had finished questing, Neptune had done fifty quests, my wallet had lost three hundred Credits, and there was now a hundred (and) twenty fresh pudding cups in the fridge. Even though I lost money, everybody was happy that I actually managed to get Neptune to work. Overall, it had been a good past few days. I hung out with Nepgear, Noire, and Neptune and they all seemed to enjoy my company. But the only thing that still bugged me, was that Noire was still dishonest about her feelings, but I ignored that.

I walked through the streets of Planeptune, watching the people around me. They were trying to hurry to their jobs, couples were holding hands, groups of friends were just walking and talking, women were window shopping, and there were taxis flying through the air, literally. This nation was so peaceful, but yet there were so many things that still threatened it, such as the monsters around. Even though we were protecting ourselves and winning, we were also losing at the same time. We, as humans, saw the monsters as something to destroy so we could protect our loved ones, but to the monsters, we the humans were the monsters and they try desperately to protect what they loved. In the end, both ends were losing. It was like that back in my dimension too. People would build skyscrapers, shops, or houses and create buildings beneficial to us, but we were destroying the animals land and destroying their home. But when I absorbed the Darkness, the humans and animals found a compromise and everyone was happy, sounds cliché, but it's true. I sighed. Too bad that wasn't the case here.

I entered the Basilicom and pushed the button to the thirty-fifth floor, the floor of my room, and also the floor of Neptune and Nepgear's home. I walked to the first door on my left, slid my keycard, and opened the door. What was inside, was not what I was expecting at all.

"*SNORE*...zzz...zzz...pudding..."

"Zzz...sis...zzzz...sis...zzz...zz.."

On my bed, is a sleeping Neptune and Nepgear in an embrace, and they were in their underwear. I sighed. I found their clothes on my table, folded them, set them on top of my drawer, and then tucked Neptune and Nepgear into the blankets. While they continued to sleep, I set my blade down in the corner of the room and went in the bathroom to take a shower. Why were they in my room sleeping and in their underwear?!

*Rustle* *Rustle*

I threw my clothes into a white basket beside the toilet and stepped into the shower, turning the nozzle for hot water.

*SSS!* *FSHHH!*

The hot water rushed down my skin as I washed myself. I looked directly at the shower head, the water spraying my open eyes, making them burn. I closed my eyes, letting the pain sink in and sighed. Everything in my life had changed when I had absorbed the Darkness. I was taken to a dimension once I had made peace a reality in my dimension, but now, I was in another dimension filled Darkness and this time, I couldn't take the easy way out and absorb the Darkness. I would actually have to solve this dimension's problems; the thing I couldn't do in my dimension. I finished washing my hair, turned off the water, stepped out of the shower, dried myself, and started to put on my clothes. I had just put on my jeans, when I heard the door open, standing there, was a blushing Nepgear, that was wearing clothes. I forgot to lock the door. Man, I thought they would still be in bed, but guess not. We just stood there, awkwardly making eye contact.

"…"

"U-um..."

"…" I was at a loss for words.

"I-I'm sorry! I'll leave now!" She turned around to leave, but I grabbed her wrist. No, it's not what you're thinking. "U-um, d-do you...need something?"

"I was just leaving, you can use the bathroom."

"O-oh...U-um, thanks...I guess." Her whole face was as red as a rose. I'm just trying to not make things awkward between us.

I let out a chuckle and left her, while she was flustered, in the bathroom, taking my shirt with me. Neptune and her clothes weren't in the room anymore, meaning she had left. I put on my white T-shirt and looked at my bed. There was nothing there but a mess of bed sheets. I honestly didn't mine. These girls had made me feel like I had a purpose in life again and I couldn't be happier. I walked out into the hallway to see Noire walking towards my room, smiling when she saw me.

"Hello Tolise."

"Hey Noire," I shut the door behind me. It'd be really awkward if Noire saw Nepgear come out of my bathroom, especially if she had just finished showering. "So, what'd you come here for?" We started walking down the hallway.

Noire blushed a bit. "W-well, I just-"

"Nep Nep Tackle!"

"Wha-"

*THUMP!*

My face was pressed against the cold metal floor and my nose burned from having it hit the ground at full force. I decided to let "it" heal my nose because I didn't want Noire to get worried.

"Neptune, why'd you tackle him?! We were about to head out?"

"Hm? Really!? Well, I was actually going to ask him to go buy me some more pudding, but since you guys are going on a date and stuff, can you guys go buy me some pudding and some souvenir or whatever?"

"Why would we go buy you something that you can buy yourself? And what do you mean by DATE!? W-we're just...hanging out...as friends."

"Uh-huh, sure. Well, Tolise, I'm going to let you and Ms. Lonely Heart go do what you do. Just make sure to buy me some pudding or Teacher Nep's going to have to smack you with my stick again!"PLEASE, NO! AND WHY'D YOU WORD IT LIKE THAT?!

"Mmhmf.." My face is still on the floor and Neptune is still sitting on me, but at least my pain is now gone. That right there, was me trying to say 'Yeah, sure'.

Neptune hopped off me and walked off while Noire, who kept muttering the word 'date' to herself, and I headed for the elevator. Is it just me, or were these girls being really clingy to me? Oh well. If it is love, then I'll deal with that later.

* * *

We were back in Lastation and we were heading towards Lastation's Basilicom. The first floor was the exact same as the one in Planeptune, giving off a cathedral feeling. There's also an elevator here too, but there are only five floors. We rode the elevator up to the third floor, which was Noire and her sister's home. I walked in to see two people in, what I assumed to be, the living room. The room was a wide room, with black floor tiles, a bit to our left is a black couch and a large, plasma screen television with a black console that had a lot of angles(and a night blue carpet underneath), the walls are a shiny baby blue, the ceiling is a violet color with a four by three of recessed trimmed white lights. In the corner right is a kitchen with white countertops, violet cabinets, a silver sink, and a white fridge. Then, on the upper right corner, is a chocolate study table, with piles of paperwork scattered everywhere, and in between the kitchen and table is a hallway leading down to four rooms. It was actually a pretty neat looking living room, for the most part.

I then turned my attention to the two people sitting on the couch. There was a girl that kinda looked like a younger Noire and another girl who looked like a boy, the reason I could tell it was a girl was because of the body curves, I don't mean that in a perverted way. The Mini Noire, I'll call her that until I can figure out her name, has a skin tone that is a bit darker than Noire's, she wears the same red eyes, and her light black hair is in pigtails, that reaches down to her chest area. She wears a black dress that has white lining with a silver circle outlining in the middle, held up by a black collar, with a blue centerpiece, which connects to the back of her dress, while her shoulders remain exposed. At her waist, she wears a black and blue belt, that has no buckle, and is held together by a bow, with the left side holding some device on it, she wears long fingerless black gloves with a white ring outlining at the back of each glove, and wears black and silver knee-high boots.

The "tomboy" has pale skin, has short silver hair, that's cut like a boy, with long bangs, and has light ocean blue eyes. Her clothes consist of a black suit that has blue lining with a white collared shirt and blue tie, with silver outlining and buttons, she wears black shorts and dark gray shoes with long black socks.

They perk up when they see us enter the living room.

"Hey, Noire, who's that boy?" Mini Noire gives me a suspicious look as she points at me.

"This is Tolise," Noire blushes a bit when she looks at me. I swear, this girl gets too easily flustered. "He's the boy I told you about a few days ago, remember?"

Mini Noire's eyes suddenly widened like she just realized something. "Oh yeah! It's not like I enjoyed listening to your story about him, I was...just...bored." Man, she acts just like Noire.

She comes up to me, poking my limbs, and stares at parts of my body, as if looking for a weakness or something. She then steps back and gives me a little smile. "Well, I'm Uni, Noire's younger sister. And you better not forget it!" She tapped my forehead as she told me. She talked the same way and looked the same as Noire. Yep, Uni was definitely a Mini Noire.

"Well, I'm Tolise. Nice to meet you."

"Same to you too, I guess..." She averts her eyes. I swear this is Déjà vu. It doesn't get anymore similar.

I look at the "tomboy". She walks up to me and extends her hand for a handshake.

"Kei. I'm the Oracle of this Basilicom. Pleased to meet you." Wow, she's pretty formal.

I shake her hand. "The pleasure's mine."

Noire tugged at my arms and I snapped my attention back to her.

"We have something to work on. Take care," Noire dragged me away down the hallway while I waved goodbye to Kei and Uni.

We walked to the door at the end of the hallway, which was Noire's room. It had a violet tiled floor, a black and gray ceiling with yellow fluorescent lights, and a faded purple wall, with the left side having checkered glass panes. There's a coal black double corner couch with a white coffee table, a black TV stand with a plasma screen TV sitting on top of it. There's also a blue bed in the corner of the room, a white study table in the corner on the right, with more stacks of paperwork, and a black wardrobe, with an attached mirror, right next to the table. But the thing that really caught my attention, was the stack of cosplay photos on her desk, which caused her to get embarrassed when she noticed me looking.

Noire opens the wardrobe and pulls out some neatly folded clothing.

Then she looks at me and smiles. "Are you ready to have some fun?"

"Sure." Just please don't make me do anything weird...

* * *

 **I DID IT! This chapter was actually supposed to be up an hour earlier, but my computer was being weird and I had to go back and edit this all again. Anyway, this will be the last chapter focused on Noire, for now, because I still have about six more people to cover. These chapters I've been doing are a part of the other main story. But after I cover all the people, I'll try to make the story more interesting and such. Anyway, thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter!**

 **P.S. I'm currently working on Chapter 10, which I hope to get out tomorrow, but life is taking that writing time away. But I'll try to get it up by tomorrow.**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Noire giggled as I came back into her room, wearing a cosplay outfit. I was wearing a black mouth mask and a black headband that, for some reason, covered my left eye. I was wearing a leaf green jacket, with a black long sleeve jumpsuit, I also wore a pair of fingerless black gloves, I had an item pouch attached to the back of my waist, and I was wearing a pair of blue sandals. Ninja, I was cosplaying as a ninja, but I couldn't remember which one, even though I felt like I knew this one from somewhere. I do remember that the name started with a 'K'. However, it was still weird to cosplay. The idea had always appealed to me, but actually doing it felt a bit weird. I don't know how Noire found this fun, but it wasn't that bad. Maybe she was just a dress-up type of girl. I lifted the headband covering my left eye to look at Noire who was also cosplaying. She wears a pair of red thin glasses, a school uniform with a black short sleeve button-up shirt, a red and black checkered skirt, and a pair of black boots with white long stockings. She actually looked like a cute high school girl. I gave her a small smile.

She frowned. "What 's wrong? Do you not like it?"

I shook my head. "No, it's not that. It's just that I'm not used to wearing these clothes, or even cosplaying."

Noire plopped down on her couch and looked up at me with a curious expression. "B-but, you don't think it's stupid or embarassing, do you?" That's actually all a matter of opinion.

"I don't think it's stupid and I think you'll only find it embarrassing if you think it is," I told Noire, causing her to sigh in relief. I quickly added. "But you seem really self-conscious about this type of stuff."

She blushed and puffed out her cheeks a bit. "W-well, it's only because I don't do this much, it's not like I'm worried about my looks or anything." Geez, that's the worst lie you've told so far.

"I think you actually look kind of cute cosplaying. It seems like something that would be fun for you."

Noire became a bit more flustered. "Why are you calling me CUTE!? You don't just call a girl that! But, I-I guess...I don't hate being called cute..." Still so dishonest.

We kept trying on more outfits for about another hour or so before Noire had the idea of going to a cosplay convention nearby. We had fun there and people were taking pictures with us, but when I had suggested that we took a picture together, Noire didn't seem to like the idea, so I got some guy to take a picture of us to make it look believable. I don't get why she's being so bashful when she's clearly enjoying the attention.

We're now walking back to Planeptune, each of us are eating a slice of chocolate ice cream cake. I had suggested that we shared one to save some money, but Noire said something about it "Being embarrassing" and "Making us look like a couple" or something along those lines. So, we each got our own slices of cake, which I both paid for. I had slung a plastic bag, filled with a few cups of pudding, some wafers and a piece of vanilla cake that was for Neptune, over my left shoulder and was holding a plate of cake in my right hand.

"*Chew*…*Chew*..*Gulp*..Hey, Tolise," I looked over at her as I finished my piece of cake and threw the plate in a nearby trash can. "Thanks, for going with me to the convention. It was really fun," she flashed me one of her rare genuine smiles after she thanked me.

"It's no problem. It's just nice to actually see you happy," I smiled back at her.

The rest of our trip was filled with us talking about whatever came to our minds...

* * *

I waved a goodbye to Noire, placed Neptune's sweets on the kitchen counter and went inside my room. I found Nepgear laying on my bed, snuggling my pillow.

"Zzz...Tolise..zz..gimme back...zz..sis...zzz..." Um, I'm not even going to ask what this girl dreams about. I give Nepgear a slight nudge on the shoulder, causing her to wake up and notice that I was there.

Her eyes snap open as she jumped off the bed. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to fall asleep on your bed! Please forgive me!"

I give her a reassuring pat on the head. "It's fine, you did nothing wrong, also, don't doubt yourself. C'mon, I'm going to go make dinner. Have you showered yet?"

She shakes her head. "I'll go take one right now," said Nepgear before hurrying out of my room. Man, I might have to see if I can fix that girl's pessimism, but that's for another day.

I decided to make the classic steak and mashed potatoes. Neptune had eaten three servings by the time the rest of us had finished our first. I came back with another serving and plopped right down next to Neptune, who was already almost done with her fifth serving. "Neptune, shouldn't you slow down?"

"Nonrhense! His herd haste really good!" Neptune went back to gobbling her food.

Translation: Nonsense! This food taste really good!

"But won't you get a stomachache or get fat?"

"*CHEW*...*CHEW*...*GULP!* It's fine! Since I'm a CPU, I can never age or lose my awesome figure!" That's actually pretty cool.

"But you can still get tummy aches. You don't want that, do you?"

"Nepu! Gosh golly, you're right! Okay, I'll stop eating dinner," Whew, thank goodness. "Now bring me my pudding!"

*BANG!*

I slammed my head onto the table. I'll just let this girl live with her mistakes.

"Hm? What's wrong? I just want some dessert," Neptune asked. That's what's wrong with it!

"Goodness Tolise! Are you okay? You shouldn't do that!" Nepgear gave me a worried look.

"Self inflicting pain is bad for you, Tolise! If you keep hurting yourself, then I'm going to have to put nasty bandages on you!" Compa warned. I don't know how to take that.

"…" Histoire let out a sigh. Thank you for understanding.

"Well, at least someone here also agrees with me," IF stated. Yup, we must be the only two sane people here.

* * *

As I sit on the couch reading some manga, while Nepgear and IF washed the dishes, Neptune was playing a fighting game against Compa. Surprisingly, Neptune never I got a stomachache.

"…Gh!"

*Thmf!*

"Gotcha!" Neptune threw herself at me, causing me to be laid out on the couch.

I looked up to see Neptune looking down at me with her shining purple eyes. "Um, why'd you tackle me?"

"Well, you just looked so quiet and boring and stuff, so I decided to bring some smiles into your life!" That's nice and all, but you didn't have to tackle me.

"Okay. Then what do you want to do, oh wise one?"

"I want a rematch! You clearly cheated when we made that bet!" Girl, I play fair, no matter how unfair the other team is. "If I win, you have to buy triple the pudding cups in the fridge, but if you win, you get the satisfaction of winning!" That's totally not fair at all.

"No, that's not fair. How about, you give me a kiss if I win?" I teased her.

Neptune blushed a bit. "NEPU! No way! You're not taking my purity away from me!"

Girl, you're not that pure. "I'm kidding."

"G-good, because I was going to smack you with my sword if you had won." Okay, I'm going to have to make a mental note to remember to not get on Neptune's bad side.

I let out a sigh. "Okay, I'll play. And we'll go with your bet, not mine."

"Sweet! Hey Compa, tag in with Tolise."

I slapped Compa's hand to signal a switch out. "Alright, let's play!"

* * *

"Zzz...*snore*...cheater..zzzz...zzz..." Neptune lay asleep on the carpet as I turned everything off. We had played until it was midnight, I had beat Neptune fifteen to zero, and Neptune had passed out halfway through the fifteenth round. Compa and IF had also gone home after the tenth round.

I picked her up off the carpet and carried her to her room. I opened the door to see Nepgear writing in a pink book, muttering to herself. She looked up when she saw me.

"U-um...Tolise. Why are you carrying Neptune?"

I set her down on the bottom bunk. "She lost a bet and passed out."

"O-oh, okay," Nepgear quickly closed her book, looking a bit embarrassed. "I should've warned sis about staying up."

"It's fine. She probably wouldn't listen anyways," I say. "Well, good night, Nepgear."

"Good night, Tolise," Nepgear quickly said before I left the room.

I walked into my room and flopped onto the bed, letting the sleep take me...

* * *

 **It's been three for three so far. This was actually kind of a short chapter, but I needed to add this chapter in because some of the events in this chapter are important for later. I'm going to be moving on to the next event for Tolise and pull away from the girl part of the story for a while. Anyway, there WILL be an upload tomorrow because that's on the schedule. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next chapter!**

 **P.S. The two main stories will eventually join up to create one story, but that'll be for another time.**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

 _"…"_

 _The crimson void surrounded me this time. Standing in front of me, was "it"._

 _"It's been awhile since you've been in here..."_

 _"Same goes to you too."_

 _"Then, why are we both here?"_

 _"I thought you would have a reason as to why."_

 _"Kid, I may know more than you, but even this is something I do not know about."_

 _"Then, what's it mean?"_

 _"It" let out a laugh. "Heh, maybe it has something to do with those girls you've been spending your time with. Maybe your inner self just secretly wants me to kill them."_

 _I clenched my fist. "That's not even a joke! Because if you do try to, I'll stop you, even if I end up dying!"_

 _"I'll give you credit for having guts at least."_

 _I released my balled up fist and took a deep breath. "All jokes aside, what's going on?"_

 _"I already told you. It's either because of your new connections or because of the Darkness."_

 _"Probably... Oh, hey! When I was fighting that one time, how'd the Darkness slip into you?"_

 _"Well, that's because-"_

 _The void around us turned black, revealing "it's" shape._

 _"…!"_

 _"...!"_

 _"Was somebody talking about me?"_

 _The Darkness' silhouette slowly walked towards us._

 _"How can you slip into our conversation!?"_

 _The Darkness smiled. "Simple. I was the one who called you both here."_

 _"So, is that how you slipped into 'it' while we were fighting?"_

 _"No, that was something else. I'm just here to observe you..." The Darkness' voice trailed off._

 _"Then, what do you want from us?"_

 _I could see a sinister smile forming. "You'll figure that out by the time it happens; both of you!"_

 _And just like that, my vision started wavering and I passed out..._

* * *

"U-um, Tolise. Please wake up," pleaded a voice.

My eyes fluttered open. Standing at my bedside, was Nepgear, who was shaking my shoulder.

"Mmm...I'm up, I'm up," I pushed myself to sit up. "Don't hit me with a sword or tell Neptune to wake me up. I'd prefer it if you woke me up." I patted her head as I let out a yawn.

Nepgear blushed a little. "U-um thanks, but, I'm not that special." Stop doubting yourself. You're one of the nicest people I know.

I took off my clothes and put on my fresh set of clothes. "Don't say that. I think you're a pretty sweet girl."

"Thanks," Nepgear plays with her fingers as she thanks me.

"Don't mention it, c'mon, let's go eat," I pulled her with me out of my room.

"Hey! Don't pull!" pleaded Nepgear.

We walked out to see Neptune reading the book Nepgear was writing in last night, with a grin on her face. She turned to look at us and gasped when she saw I was holding Nepgear's hand. Crap.

"Nep Jr, let go of that tentacle monster's hand! If you don't, he'll do weird things to your body, then you'll start writing it down in this book!" Neptune waved the book for us as to prove her theory. "And then, you'll become his mind slave and turn into a masochist!" Wow, just wow.

Nepgear, after hearing this, became a bit bashful. "I-I'm not holding his hand because I want to... I-it's...because..um...he dragged me out with him, that's all!" Nepgear, please don't turn into Noire or Uni!

Neptune materialized her wooden blade. Oh god, no! "Don't worry Nep Jr, I'll save you from becoming a mind slave and making this an eroge game!" Woah, woah, woah! That is not what's going to happen. She dashed towards me. God, please have mercy!

*SMACK!* *CRASH!* *BANG!* *BREAK!* *SLAP!*

"Take this!"

*SNAP!*

"NEPU! My sword broke! What did you do!?" Neptune started flailing her arms.

"*Huff* *Huff*...Damn, that hurt," I massaged the arm I had just used to break Neptune's weapon. " Neptune, I'm not some perv. I actually care about how people act, not how they look."

Neptune let out a chuckle. "Heh, you're right!" Thanks for understanding Neptune. "You're not some pervert, you're *the* pervert. The original one!" I have lost all faith in her.

I facepalmed. This girl really can't be tamed can she?

I walk to the dining table and sit down next to Histoire, who is eating, while in deep thought.

"Hmm..."

I grabbed a bowl and poured myself a bowl of cereal. I eat as I look at the Planeptune sisters. Nepgear is desperately trying to get her book back from Neptune. They are both so close.

"Excuse me, Tolise."

"Hrm?" I turned to face Histoire while I chewed on my cereal.

"Can I talk to you in private after we finish breakfast?" asked Histoire. "It's really important that we discuss this."

I wonder if it has anything to do with the Darkness. "Alright, we'll finish eating, then we'll talk."

Neptune and Nepgear, who was holding her book close to her chest, sat down at the table. "Hey! So I was thinking that I should go do quests with Turtle today!" She proposed. Neptune, you had the name right, but you somehow managed to forget it. I'll never understand this girl.

"Tolise," I corrected. "My name's Tolise, I already told you this. How'd you forget?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's because calling you Turtle is easier."

I sighed. I will never understand how this girl works. We ate the rest of our cereal quietly, with the exception of Neptune being Neptune.

* * *

As Histoire and I finished our talk, I was left with so many new questions, but also many answers. She had told me to just wait for "that" to occur and I couldn't stop it, but also that there was a way to fight "that", it was just something I truly had to have. I'm pretty sure I didn't truly have it yet, so I was just going to have to see what would happen.

I grabbed my blade from my room and met up with Neptune, who was eating a cup of pudding, at the Basilicom entrance.

When she saw me, she tossed her empty pudding cup into a trash can and ran up to me.

"Hey Nep-"

*BONK!*

She bonked me on the head.

"Ow!" I massaged the crown of my head. "What was that for?"

"That's for keeping a cutie like me waiting!" Oh my god. "What if someone had come on by and snatched me and you would never see my adorable smile again? What would you do then?"

Might as well play along. "Well, I'm actually here to kidnap you!"

I lifted her up, carried her like a bride and headed towards the Guild, which was where we typically picked up quests.

Neptune flailed her arms wildly. "Nepu! No, he's going to actually take my bod! I haven't eaten enough pudding to be ready for this!"

* * *

We were now in a mountain range. We had accepted a quest that asked us to find an item known as Metal Jelly. Jelly typically dropped from Dogoos, but there weren't any Dogoos around here at all. The quest, however, had said that there was supposed to be Metal Jelly here, so we had to deal with it.

*SHWK!*

I sliced up an oncoming Horsebird. Yes, a horse that was also a bird. I sighed. "Where are we supposed to find this jelly? We've already looked through this entire area." I was already thinking of quitting this quest, but the reward would be worth it.

Neptune, who was dragging her body along, let out a groan. "I know, right! Where's the game's event flag when you need it?" Just don't question it Tolise, just don't.

*Slice* *Shk!*

As I was about to respond to Neptune's complaint, my instincts caused my body to dense up and I activated Level One of "it", making my pupils crimson. Everything turned a shade of crimson as time slowed down. I grabbed Neptune and pulled her out of the way as time resumed again and a hooded man sliced the air, along with a bit of Neptune's hoodie as she was pulled away. He turned to face me.

"Nepu! I knew there would eventually be an event flag! So, who are you...um...you?" Neptune, you're not really great with serious situations, are you?

"…" The hooded man didn't speak, but just watched us instead.

The man had a broadsword with a black blade, a purple cross guard, and a chrome hilt, with a black sheath. He wore a black cloak and hood, masking his face, he wore white leather gloves, and murky blue combat boots. But the thing that bothered me most about the him, was that his blade was emitting purple lightning. Did he have a type of "it" inside of him or was there something else inside of him? Whatever it was, he was truly evil. I unsheathed my blade and activated Level Two, causing the 'red' power to surge through me and make my blade emit purple and red flames. I didn't have to worry about the Darkness slipping in if I listened to Histoire's advice. I stepped forward, tightly gripped the blade and took a stance.

"Neptune, stay back. I can handle this."

Neptune took cover behind some nearby bushes. "You ain't gotta tell me twice! Beat his pudding-hating ass!" Whatever Neptune.

The hooded man turned towards me and also took a stance. I could feel the tension in the air as the flames wisped away and the lightning crackled.

"…"

"…"

Whatever happened, I was going to protect the ones I cared about, even if it meant death. As everything around us grew quieter, we heard a twig break and lunged towards each other.

*BANG!*

I had to win...

* * *

 **Sorry I uploaded this so late! It's just that my schedule was filled up today and I was not prepared for it. I'll definitely try to upload a chapter tomorrow to make up for this late upload. The next few chapters will focus on Tolise, so if you wanted that, then be prepared for the next few chapters. But, again I'm sorry, thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

*BOOM!*

I dodged an incoming thrust from his blade, spun around and slammed his blade to the ground. The man then grabbed my blade, pulled me towards him and did a sidekick to my rib. I pulled my blade back with me as I jumped back.

"*Huff* *Huff*…...Damn," I cursed as I stared him down. He didn't seem tired, but he also didn't seem full of energy either.

"...You."

"What?"

"You, have one of "those" sealed inside you, don't you?" How does this guy know?!

"So, what if I do?"

"Then, you really are the man from there, you are Luc-"

"SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH!" I activated another ability and dashed towards him.

*BANG!*

I performed an uppercut slash. He had blocked it, but the forced had been so strong that his arms flew into the air.

*SK!* *CRK*

I stepped forward and thrusted at him with the tip of my blade. But he sidestepped the attack, causing him to only get a tear on his cloak. So he could also move at the same speed I could even though I was using 'that' power. He lunged his fist at me. Instead of pulling my blade back to do something, I let go of the hilt and spread my arms in front of me to block it, which caused me to be pushed back. Damn, that punch could've crushed a car, but thanks to "it", I was immediately healed. I then regained my balance and lunged at him yet again, grabbing my blade as I got closer.

*CLANG!* *SKKRR!* *BK!*

He then spun on his heel, grabbed his blade and did a horizontal slash to counter my oncoming downward strike, causing sparks to fly as our blades grinded against each other, each trying to overpower the other. But since I knew this wasn't going anywhere, I stepped forward and tried to headbutt him. His idea had apparently been the same also as his head banged against mine. We slowly inched our bodies closer to add to our blade's force.

*BANG!* *SHK!*

Since I was striking downwards and using my weight to add to the force, I slowly pushed him to the ground, causing his blade to press against his body. I then, used my leg to kick his blade away and slashed at his chest. However, he rolled out of the way, allowing me to only slice his right forearm, and leave another tear there. He ran towards his blade, picked it up and then jumped a few feet away, still looking at me.

"*Huff*... *Huff*…. Why won't you die? Who are you?!"

The figure brushed some dust off of his cloak before speaking. "I can't die because I'm just like you, but different," he slowly said, his voice rather croaky. "As to who I am, I can't say. But, I do know of you. You have all of 'it' inside of you, don't you?" Crap, he knows.

"Just how much do you know about me?"

"Enough to know you're not from this dimension and that people don't know what you really are, most of them."

"Then, what do you want from me?"

"Why would I tell you? Wouldn't that ruin the surprise?"

I gritted my teeth. "I don't want to see any of *your* surprises."

"Heh, you already know you can't avoid "that", right? Why not succumb to it?"

"HELL NO!"

*SLASH!*

I dashed towards the hooded figure and did a thrust right through his chest. I expected blood to pour out, but none came out. Suddenly, his body started dematerialized into thin air. Are you serious?! That was a fake?!

"Til next time, friend..."

"…" I gripped my blade.

*CRASH!*

I punched the wall in front of me as hard as I could, making the wall shatter into millions of pieces. I didn't care about how much it hurt either.

"Damn you..." I fell to the ground as my power was drained from me.

* * *

 _I sat up on a tree branch, leaning against the trunk. The blue sky still looked clear, and was the only bright thing I could see. The shade of the leaves darkened how everything around me looked, so I was happy to see that the sky was bright at least._

 _The gentle breeze touches me,_

 _The animals play happily,_

 _And the sky remains blue,_

 _While I sit here,_

 _And look through the Darkness,_

 _Looking past,_

 _The red,_

 _The black,_

 _And the purple,_

 _Only looking at the blue sky,_

 _As I sit in peace..._

 _I carved that into the tree trunk, letting the people who would come here know that there was such a thing as temporary peace, not everlasting peace. I let out a sigh and closed my eyes, letting the sounds of nature take me away from this dark and hated world._

 _"…"_

 _The birds chirped, the gentle breeze of the wind blew the smell of grass towards me and the lake slowly swayed back and forth. It was truly peaceful..._

 _"…"_

 _"Hey, guy!" a voice barked at me._

 _Too bad that peace was only for a short period of time._

 _Returning from my bliss, I glanced down to see someone looking up at me. He had golden yellow eyes, tanned skin, silver hair with long bangs that covered his face, and a scar on his left cheek. He wore a white tank top, a short sleeved black leather jacket, blue skinny jeans, red biker gloves, a belt with chains hanging from it, and a pair of brown cleats. Oh god, not another one of "these" guys._

 _I let out a sigh. "What do you want? I'm busy trying to enjoy time away from people like you."_

 _He let out a light chuckle. "Heh, shouldn't it be the other way around? Shouldn't it be that you're another one of my kind?"_

 _What was this guy talking about? "What are you talking about? I'm nothing like you."_

 _"Really? Then what's that thing you have inside you, hm?" He questioned._

 _I nearly fell off the tree when he mentioned "that". "How do you know about that?"_

 _"Simple. I also have one inside of me."_

 _I lunged myself towards him, but he stepped to the side right before I could hit him. I then used my hands as springs to push myself back up into the air before landing on the grass safely._

 _I looked up to face him. "How'd you do that?"_

 _He grinned. "Because, unlike you, I can control "it"._

 _I stood up and looked dead into his eyes. "Can you teach me how control it?"_

 _"Sure, you don't seem that bad."_

 _"Thanks! But, can you at least tell me your name?"_

 _"Sure, my name is-"_

* * *

"…!" My eyes snapped open. But due to "it's" side effects, I was temporarily blinded.

"Oh, he's awake! Thank goodness!" That was probably Nepgear.

"Man, I thought he died, but maybe he picked up a hundred coins and got an extra life!" Definitely Neptune.

"Be quiet you two! He needs to rest." Maybe Histoire?

"Blehh... But Histy, that's *so* boring!"

As the girls continued to talk, I closed my eyes again since I couldn't see anyway. Who had that man been? What was he trying to do? And how did he know so much about me? I took a deep breath. If he knew I wasn't from this dimension, he was either from my dimension, or I was just easy to figure out. But the fact that he knew me, bothered me.

Well, it wouldn't do me any good to just sit here and do nothing. I tried to push myself up. "..Gh!" I winced in pain as I fell back onto what I assumed to be a bed.

Nepgear let out a gasp. "Goodness! Tolise, are you alright?"

Someone grasped my hand. "If you mean that being temporarily blind and having a sore body is alright, then yeah, I guess I am fine."

"I-I'm sorry...I shouldn't have said anything..." Why did I say that!? I just made Nepgear sad.

I gripped the loosened hand, which I assumed to be her's. "No, it's alright. I'm just really hurting everywhere right now. Sorry. "

"Hey! Stop with the lovey-dovey scene! I got lines to say too!"

"Neptune, shush. Let them enjoy the moment." Thank you Histoire.

"Aww, but I'm not good with these types of situations." I can tell Neptune.

"Hey, Histoire, how long before..." My voice trailed off. "Y'know..."

"Probably a few more hours. Don't worry, just stay in your room, try to get some rest and we'll take care of you." So I am in my room.

"Okay, thanks."

* * *

I had decided to spend some time thinking about what had happened.

"Hmm..." I scratched the back of my head.

'Heh, you already know you can't avoid "that", right? Why not succumb to it?' Those had been the hooded man's words.

It was true that I couldn't avoid "that", but I wasn't going to succumb to it. Because I knew there was a way to stop it when it occurred, but I truly needed to have "it" for it to work. Right now though, I didn't really have it, so I had to find "it". But I wasn't going to find "it" just to stop "that", I wanted to actually have "it", not just to stop "that".

*Knock* *Knock*

As I was in the midst of thinking about the situation, I heard a knock at my door.

"Come in!"

The heard the door open and someone step in. "U-um, how are you doing, Tolise? It was Nepgear's voice.

I let out a sigh of relief. If Neptune had come in, I don't know what would have happened.

"I'm fine, but I still can't see."

"I-I'm sorry...I wish I could've been there to help," Nepgear sounded kind of ashamed as she spoke.

"No, I wouldn't have wanted to jeopardize your life," Yeah, that's right. I'm using cliché lines. "Because to me, your life is more important than my own."

"U-um...T-thank you." I'll bet you she's being bashful right now.

"Don't mention it. So, what'd you come in here for?"

"Oh! Um, I brought you some food to eat, I hope you don't mind my cooking." Again girl, with the pessimism.

"No, I like your cooking," I complimented.

"Thank you," her footsteps grew closer to mine as I heard the shaking of a spoon and bowl. "Here, say 'ah'."

I'm not a little kid, although I do wish that I had actually had a childhood. "Ahhh~"

I felt a warm liquid with some soft oats on it enter my mouth; it was oatmeal. The oatmeal that Nepgear made was better than any oatmeal "he" ever made for me. His was always sticky and not that warm and whenever I made it, it was always too flaky and hot. But Nepgear's was perfect and tasted good. It wasn't exactly cooking, but it was still food.

By the time she finished feeding me, my tastebuds felt like they were in heaven. "U-uh... How did it taste?"

"*Chew*... *Chew*..*Gulp*," I finished the last bite before speaking. "I love it, thanks for caring for me."

"You're welcome."

"..."

"...Hm?"

The room was then filled with an awkward silence. Why was it so quiet? Suddenly, my eyes blackness faded away and I could see again. But the first thing I saw was not what I was expecting to see at all. Nepgear's eyes were closed and her body was snuggling with my chest. Nepgear had fallen asleep on me, and I couldn't move.

*Tmp!* *Tmp!*

I heard footsteps coming towards me. If anybody saw me like this, especially Neptune, I wouldn't live to see another day.

*TMP!* *TMP!*

What was I going to do?!

* * *

 **CLIFFHANGER! Sorry, but I felt like this cliffhanger was needed, just because. Anyway, I don't have much to say this time, so I'm going to wrap this up pretty quickly. Just to let you know there won't be a chapter tomorrow because Saturdays are always way too busy. So, after the next chapter, I'm going to need you guys to give me some chapter ideas for a bit because I want to let you guys be involved. Anyway, that's all I got to say, so thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next chapter!**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

As the footsteps got closer, my brain started to panic. If it was Neptune that was coming, I would die. But, if it was somebody else I'd still at least get some sort of punishment because, let's be real, nobody would not find this weird.

*TMP* *TMP*

The footsteps were getting closer and closer. What could I do? I could see, speak, smell, hear, and taste. But I couldn't move, using "it" would cause it to die due to not enough power(which would leave the Darkness with a chance of controlling my body), and I didn't want to use the Darkness and give it a chance to control my body. Maybe just facing the music would work.

*Tmp*

The footsteps stopped right as I could see the shadow of a figure at the doorway. I held my breath and my body tensed up.

"…"

Neptune stepped in with two pudding cups in her hands and sighed upon seeing me. "Gosh, why do I always have to see this?" She set the pudding cups onto my drawer and then came up to me.

"U-um, please don't bash me with your sword," I pleaded. "I kinda can't move."

"Relax bro. *Chew*…*Smack*...We can't always use the same joke over and over again," Neptune ate her pudding as she spoke. "That's why I'm going to give you a different type of punishment."

The idea of not getting smacked made me happy, but the fact that she had something else planned for me made me worried.

"W-what...are you...g-going...to do to me?" I couldn't move, so I was basically Neptune's puppet.

She grabbed the pudding cup on my desk and stacked it on top of her cup. "You're gonna come with me."

"But...I can't move."

"Doesn't matter! You're coming with me!" she grabbed me by the collar and dragged me across the cold hard metal, scraping my face.

"Whot arbot Hepnear?"

Translation: What about Nepgear?

"It's fine! She's used to this!" Neptune smiled as she said so.

That's so terrible.

* * *

"*Chew*…*Smack*…"

I looked up at the sky, observing the stars while I ate my pudding. Neptune had dragged me with her to a flower meadow and we sat there and ate pudding. I had asked what my punishment was and she simply replied to satisfy her. That was a pretty hard task to do, but at least she liked having fun.

"*Smack*…*Gulp*...Ah! Eating pudding while the sun is shining down on you feels great!"

It did feel nice, but I didn't get how satisfying Neptune was a punishment. Sure, I had to do whatever she asked, but all she had asked so far was to be out with her and eat pudding, which wasn't much. I ate some more and glanced over at her.

She had noticed that I was staring and turned to face me. "Hm, what's up? Are you thinking something weird with your pervy mind, you tentacle monster?"

I gave her a slight smile. "I'm not a tentacle monster, okay?" she snorted. "And all I'm thinking is why you dragged me out here.

"I already told you! You're here to satisfy my desires for violating my sister!"

"But I did-"

A grin crossed her face as she gave me a dangerous look. "Unless, you really do want to be whacked again."

"…" I've learned that's it's better to not argue with her.

Neptune giggled before speaking again. "But, I gotta be serious sometimes as the protag, so I want to ask you something," she finished her pudding cup and looked directly into my eyes. "What was that thing you did when you were fighting that man? You got really fast and felt very scary, like one of those toy robot bears at a pizzeria."

I paused and looked back up at the stars of the night sky. I never told anybody about "it" because they were usually trying to either kill me or they also had "that" happen to them. But I had never told a close friend, not even my old friend. I thought about it for a bit. Neptune had always been a good friend to me, even if she joked around a lot and always made me buy her pudding, but even so, I didn't want her to look at me like how "we" were all looked at. But she didn't seem like a bad girl. Maybe it was time I stopped secluding myself and had others help me.

"…"

"Well?"

I fell back onto the flowers causing some petals to jump into the air and slowly float back down. "Alright, I'll tell you."

"Yay!" She threw her arms around me and squeezed.

"But you can't tell anyone about this, alright?" I gave her a serious look.

"Yeah, I already know you're a tentacle monster though."

I let out a chuckle. "Well, you're somewhat right."

"NEPU! So you're really a tentacle monster?!"

"No, let me explain..."

* * *

"*Snore*...zz...pudding...*Snore*...zzz"

I carried Neptune on my back as I walked back towards the Basilicom. I had explained as much about my past as I could, leaving out a few dark parts. I explained about "it", the Darkness, and "that" event that had occurred when I was just born. Neptune had gotten really sad and tried to apologize after hearing this. I had told her it was fine but she still seemed worried. Eventually, Neptune fell asleep and I decided to carry her back with me to the Basilicom since I could move again, even though it still hurt a bit to move. I looked back at her. She had her eyes closed, her snoring was getting quieter, she had pudding stains near her lips and her chin was resting on my shoulders. It made her look really adorable, in a family way not a weird way.

It was probably almost midnight and Nepgear was probably in her room, probably worrying about her sister and where I went. I honestly didn't want to worry her, nor Neptune, Noire, Histoire, Compa and IF. But I also wanted to keep my promise.

 _"I will protect you, even if I die doing so...because you're more important to me than my life."_

Those had been the words I had told Nepgear. But I didn't just mean that for her, I also meant that for everybody else too. These people had allowed me to find new joy and, even if it was a selfish desire, I didn't want to lose that. Back then, I had been something else; you could even say I wasn't a person, but after meeting "him", I changed for the better.

 **"So, what're you going to do now?"**

Hm?

 **"You seem to have finally found a goal to stick to. Are you really going to commit to it, even with Darkness inside of you?"**

I realized this was "it" talking. "I will. I promise to protect them even if it means I die, they're the only family that we've ever had, a real family."

 **"Yes, your 'real' family was horrible. I understand why you'd choose to live by this promise. You are very selfless. To see the ones you care about survive rather than letting them die."**

"Thanks, and I hope you'll help me with this goal."

 **"I will..."**

* * *

*Knock* *Knock*

The door creaked open and Nepgear peeked out. She seemed tired, but why were her eyes puffy? Had she been crying?

When she saw me carrying Neptune a shadow cast over her, covering her eyes, as she bit her lip.

"Hey Nepgear, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just...tired...that's all."

I walked into the room, set Neptune down onto her bed and turned to Nepgear, who was looking out the window with hollow eyes.

I reached out to her. "Hey Nepgear, what's wrong?"

"..W-why?" her body was trembling.

"What?"

"Why don't you spend more time with me?"

"…" Wait a second. Is this...what I think it is? I'll just keep quiet until I can confirm it.

"I wanted to spend time with sis, but she was always spending time with others," she sniffled. "T-then...*Sniff*...when I wanted to be with you...*Hic*...you were always...with others."

"…"

"But...when...*hic*….I wanted to be with you today...*sniff*...Neptune took you away," Nepgear's voice trembled as she spoke. "I-I...just want to spend time...*hic*...and have friends like you and sis."

Her body collapsed onto the floor while she cried into her hands. "*Hic*…*Sniff*…..I-I...just want...*Hic*..to be like...sis..*Sniff*..and...y-you."

"…" I slowly walked up behind her. She was also feeling the pain, like everyone else who had lived in the imperfect world of Darkness. But I had learned to overcome that and I would use that to help others who were in the void of solitude and slowly free this dimension from the Darkness. If I couldn't even save my friends, didn't reach out a hand or even try, I would just be like the scum who only cared for themselves.

I stopped behind Nepgear, who was still crying. "Nepgear..."

"...What? *Sniff* Are you going to leave me again?"

"Hey," I turned her head to face mine and looked into her eyes. "Do you not remember what I told you?"

"*Hic*...W-what?"

"I told you that I cared about you," I wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes while I comforted her. "And, I'll always be there for you, I promise."

I smiled at her, pulled her into a hug and let her head rest on my shoulder. "*Sniff*...U-um, Tolise."

"Yeah?"

"T-thank you, again."

"No problem."

Her cheeks suddenly became flushed. "U-um, Tolise," she clung onto my body as she stuttered with her words. "C-can...I...um...sleep...with you?" What?

I knew I couldn't refuse considering what I just promised her. "Y-yeah, sure."

"T-thank you..."

I wrapped one of my arms around her and the other around her back then picked her up. "C'mon, let's go."

"Mhm."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Hello once again. So the reason this one took so long, was because I felt the last few chapters had been too rushed and that I needed to actually think about the chapters I would be writing. This chapter, for example, was rewritten three times, so I'm going to spend more time thinking about the chapters. On a different note, I feel like I've been spoiling the upcoming chapters and I'm not going to do that anymore. Something else that's kind of minor, is that I kept forgetting to put the 'A/N' before I wrote these which kind of made things confusing for some. Also, I want to involve some of your guys' ideas into this story, no matter how bad it is, just PM me or write a review. Anyway, thanks for reading,there will be a chapter tomorrow and I'll see you in the next chapter!**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"...Zzz...Tolise..."

"…" I felt the blood rush to cheeks.

This was one of those times where I felt kind of embarrassed. It wasn't normal for a guy with no girlfriend to sleep with a girl, literally, unless you're one of those guys who likes to use them for one day before leaving them and moving on. But I wasn't like that, so I found this extremely embarrassing. Her body was pressed against mine and was occasionally snuggling with it. I could feel her body heat, I could smell her shampoo and feel her breathing. Yeah, I'm probably turning into a perv.

"…"

I always knew Nepgear was kind of clingy and pessimistic, but to cry because none of us were there for her, it was just something I couldn't bear to watch. She had always been nice and helpful, but she also didn't seem to have as many friends as Neptune and she just wanted to be like her, cool. But ever since I arrived, Neptune hasn't been spending as much time with her and I was always doing something else. I thought I had fixed this problem earlier, but I guess I hadn't. Now, that was going to be my number one priority, no matter what.

"Zz...zzz...zzz..."

"…" I stroked her hair. This girl wasn't going to be alone ever again.

"Good night, Nepgear..."

* * *

I stretched out my arms. "*yawn*...Hm?" I opened my eyes to see Nepgear still clinging to me. I smiled and nudged her shoulder. "Hey sleepyhead, wake up."

"*yawn~*Huh?" Her eyes slowly drifted open while she rubbed them, and looked up at me.

"It's morning. We gotta go eat."

"Do I have to?" She asked as she pushed me back onto the bed and continued to snuggle with me. "You feel so nice and warm, so I don't want to let go."

She must still be half-asleep. I sighed. "I guess I'll have to result to desperate measures."

"Zzzz...mm...AH! What the goodness?!"

I started tickling her sides, which caused her to wake up in shock.

"Tickle...tickle..."

"H-hey!...Tol...Tolise..p-please...mmgh...stop!"

I increased the speed of my movements. "But you weren't waking up, so I needed to do something to wake you up."

"B-but...mmgh...y-you...d-didn't...have to...Kyah!"

I switched to tickling her feet.

"Mm...p-please...I...can't...mgh...last much...l-longer."

I smiled as she continued to squirm. "Are you awake?"

"Y-yes! N-now please..mmg..stop!"

I stopped my attack and she let out a sigh, then gave me a worried expression. "Goodness. Please don't do that again," she pleaded. "I just really wanted to keep sleeping and...u-um..." Her voice trailed off.

I hopped off the bed and changed my clothes. "Don't worry about it. We need to get ready to go eat breakfast," I turned around to look at Nepgear, who was sitting up on my bed. "Do you want to use my bathroom first?"

"Sure. Thank you."

I watched as she shuffled towards the bathroom. At least she wasn't sad anymore.

* * *

"So you DID try to take sis' bod!"

I took another bite from my loaf of bread and drank some milk to wash it down. "I did not! Look, I already told you! All we did was sleep together in the same bed, and we DIDN'T do anything!" I did leave out the whole tickling thing because Neptune doesn't need to know about that. Neptune would probably end up actually killing me for touching her sister.

Nepgear sat between us, quietly drinking her tapioca tea.

"But what about all those noises she was making this morning?"

Nepgear and I glanced at each other. I really must have teased her too much if Neptune could hear it.

"Um...Well, Nepgear was...feeling sore...so...I...gave her a...shoulder massage."

"Stare~..." She cast us a suspicious look.

"I-it's the truth, really," Nepgear chimed in.

Neptune turned to face her sister. "So he didn't violate your bombshell bod, Nep Jr.?"

Nepgear shook her head."No, he didn't."

"NEPU! This can't be possible! This must be an alternate dimension where Noire actually has friends!" Neptune flailed her arms as she continued to spout nonsense.

"Hey, Noire does have friends."

"Look Turtle, your Basilicom's staff are not your friends. She just pays them to be her friends and work for her."

"Neptune, say that again and I'll make your life a living hell!"

I turned around to see Noire at the doorway, glaring at Neptune with a look that could kill.

"I'm sorry Lonely Heart. I just thought this was an alternate dimension where you actually had friends."

"I-I do have friends!"

"Really?" Neptune let out a laugh. "Name one."

Noire blushed a bit. "U-um...Tolise is my friend."

"Heh, yeah right!"

"No, she's my friend. I approve."

"NEPU! Noire has friends?! So this is an alternate dimension! Quick, somebody find an evil guy who wants to travel to our dimension so we can go home!"

Everyone let out a sigh while Neptune continued with her usual randomness.

* * *

"Hmm..."

"Can you not decide?" asked Nepgear.

"No, all of these are too easy and don't provide enough pay," I leaned against the wall and let out a sigh. "Nepgear, why don't you choose one?"

She gave me a doubtful look. "Really? I'm not sure I'll pick a good one though."

I took her hand and gave it a little squeeze. "It's alright. You'll do fine."

She started shifting around in her position. "O-okay, I'll try."

She looked carefully through the holographic visor, swiping through the options.

After about five minutes, Nepgear's face lit up and she tapped the accept button on a quest. When the visor disappeared, Nepgear was now holding a tablet that had our quest written on it. That's weird. I've never done a quest where they gave us a tablet. She handed me the tablet and I read through the quest:

 **Mission Requirements**

Destroy all the Kilachine in the listed area(s)

 **Reward**

13,700 Credits,

Build-Your-Own Machine Kit(Gold Edition)

I smiled. This quest wanted us to wipe out a whole area of Kilachines for a machine-making kit and a good amount of Credits, plus I could sharpen my skills by doing this. I patted Nepgear's head.

"This is a really good quest for both of us," I commented. "See, you can do anything if you try."

She smiled. "Y-yeah."

* * *

We were now in another forest and this one was packed with more trees than the last one we went to. Nepgear and I were walking through the forest, talking about small things like hobbies, things we hated and what we did in our spare time and, after about an hour of walking, we finally spotted a group of Kilachines. "Nepgear, you take two and I get the rest," I commanded as I unsheathed my blade.

She materialized her gunblade. "Um, are you sure? If I fought two, then you would have to fight five," she gave me a worried look.

I formed a grin. "That adds to the fun."

"O-okay..."

I closed my eyes and summoned Level One, making my eyes crimson. "C'mon, let's go!"

I dashed towards the group of Kilachine without looking at Nepgear. When I was about a yard away, they seemed to notice me and started firing bullets at me.

*BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!*

I let everything around me slow down and turned into it's usual crimson shade.

*CRASH!* *SHWING!* *SLASH* *CLANG!* *PING!* *TING!* *TING!* *PING!*

I had jumped up into the air and did a downwards slash to clear my path of the first wave of bullets, followed by an uppercut slash to allow a gap past the next barrage of bullets, then slashed two waves with the 'red' power that engulfed my blade and deflected the last wave of bullets while dodging, by doing a three sixty degree spin, into the air. I sighed and stopped using "it's" power when the firing stopped. It was so easy, so I decided to fight them without using it. I continued my dash towards them as I kept deflecting and dodging the bullets. Once I was close to a Kilachine, I jumped up, landed on it's head and ripped it's head off before jumping off.

*BOOM!*

Debris flew everywhere as the explosion hit me from behind, but I didn't care. I turned around and quickly rolled to my right.

*BROOOOM!" *CRASH!*

Right as I got out of the way, a plasma beam hit the spot I had been standing at, leaving a hole in the ground. I then dashed towards that Kilachine and grabbed it's breast plate.

"BANG" BANG!" BOOM!"

I quickly jumped off of the Kilachine and landed on the ground as another Kilachine fired at where I had been, killing the Kilachine.

*SKREE~* *SHWING!* *BOOM!*

I ran up to the Kilachine that had just destroyed it's own kind, I cut it in half, making it blow up, and turned to face another Kilachine who had just fired it's beam at me. Using my instincts, I quickly rolled to the side and dashed towards the Kilachine. When it had just finished firing it's beam, I struck.

*SLASH!* *BANG!* *SHWING!* *BOOM!*

I started slashing away at the Kilachine's metal body parts while it started going crazy. Eventually, I cut it up into bits and it blew up into a dirty red and orange ball of smoke. These things were honestly too easy to beat. I turned to look over at Nepgear, who was in what I assumed to be her HDD form.

*SWK!* *BOOM!*

Nepgear performed a quick horizontal slash through the Kilachine's head, causing it to malfunction and blow up. It was a shame that I could never finish my fight quick enough to see Nepgear's. She looked back at me and flew towards me once she finished.

"D-did I do okay?"she asked with a tone of doubt.

"Yeah, you did great."

I looked more closely at her. Her skin tone was still the same, but her hair has a bit of a pink color in it, her eyes are now a light blue color, and her D-pad hair clip has now changed to a circular white hair piece with a blue center. She wears a white bathing suit like outfit, that has an exposed light lilac chest part that connects to her white neck collar and gloves, and she wears white knee-high boots. I honestly think that if she wore her normal clothes with these, that she would look even more beautiful, but I shouldn't even be thinking about that.

We high fived and I pulled the tablet back up again. The map showed all the monsters in our dungeon that were part of our quest, and there seemed to only be one left at the end of the dungeon, except it only had a black skull icon instead of a red dot. This could probably be pretty dangerous.

"C'mon, let's go."

"Alright!"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Well, here's another chapter yet again. I figured that I would ask you if you wanted to be part of this story and provide chapter ideas, no it's not because I don't have any ideas, I just want you guys that read and enjoy it to actually incorporate some of your own ideas(if you want to, then PM me or write a review). Also, I am going to actually try to spend more time taking my time with these chapters to actually not make rushed and sloppy chapters. Anyway, that's all I got to say, thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next update!**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"…"

"Hummm...hummm...humm~"

As we continued to walk towards the end of the forest, Nepgear continued to hum happily. I looked over at her. Ever since we slept together, she's been pretty happy everyday and hasn't been as pessimistic. It made me pretty happy that I managed to change one person for the better, but if I were to clear this world of Darkness, then I'd need to fix this entire dimension and I wanted my friends to be there for me when I tried. The walk was actually pretty peaceful, there weren't any monsters or anything blocking the path we walked on.

I looked over at Nepgear."Hey, Nepgear."

She turned back to face me. "Hm?"

"Do you want to go do something after this?"

The blood rushed to her cheeks and she became bashful. "U-um...I'm not against it...B-but...um...I've never...had...a..." her voice trailed off again.

Oh god, she's being all shy and getting ideas. I sighed and shook my head. "No, we're just going to have some fun," I explained. "That's all."

She let out a sigh of relief. "Oh. Goodness, don't say things like that."

"I just meant that we should hang out after this," I stated. "Unless you want to do something else?"

"U-um, actually, could we use the robot kit from this reward?"

"Sure."

* * *

I unsheathed my blade and activated Level One. "…" This one might actually require Level One. Nepgear's blade materialized in front of her and we each took a stance and faced the enemy before us.

It looked to be made of titanium, was the size of a mountain, had silver wings( with pointy edges) which were each the size of a third of it's body, it had four long limbs attached to the bottom of it, each wielding an axe, and a body that had a robotic dragon head coming out of it. To me, it looked absolutely ridiculous but also very cool in the weirdest way.

It was clear to me that I wasn't going to be able to simply slice up it's body parts, the force would just bounce back. Instead, I would have to destroy each individual body part with the 'red' power consuming my blade or find it's weak spots. But depending on it's speed, I would probably need to activate Level Two, but I wasn't going to worry about that yet.

"Let's go!"

"Yeah!"

*BANG!*

As soon as I made everything around me slow down, Nepgear increased her flight speed, making it to where her slowed down flight was equal to my current running speed.

*CRASH!*

Right about a few yards away from the Kilachine, it spotted us and matched our speed and brought all four axes down on us. I jumped to the side to avoid the blades before jumping off one of it's limbs to reach it's head and submerging my blade in "it's" power.

*CLANG!* *SH~K!*

Suddenly, three limbs were coming at me from behind while I was in midair, leaving me unable to move. Then, Nepgear shot two of them away, making electricity burst out, and I used the last limb as a launchpad to jump towards it's head. I did a roll to add momentum into my strike and performed a quick slash towards the head's crown, causing heat and electricity to burst outwards.

"*SKREEE*" It cried out in pain as it violently shook in pain.

*SHWING!* *BOOM!*

I kicked off it's eye and stabbed my blade into one of it's limbs, dragging the blade down with me, and pulled it out once I reached the ground safely. I then jumped back right before a limb blew up and turned to face Nepgear, who was fighting off the remaining three limbs.

*CLANG!* *BANG!* *SKREE-BANG!*

I dashed towards her when one limb suddenly sliced at me. I jumped up and slashed down at it, making it break the ground and stay stuck there. When I reached her, I took her gunblade, shot at one limb as the another lashed towards Nepgear. Quickly, I slid in front of her and blocked the axe with the two blades, slowly pushing the axe down as my feet struggled to stay in position. Once the axe was almost down and the gunblade was facing the Kilachine's head, I shot at it's eye, causing it to wince in pain and allowing me the chance to cut off the limb as the limb's strength wavered. I stepped up to the limb, letting my blade be consumed in the 'red' power, and repeatedly stabbed the limb, causing titanium bits to fly off and sparks to fly everywhere, as more and more electricity sparked out. Then to end it off, I let my instincts allow me to jump as the limb from earlier swung at me.

*BANG! BANG!* *BOOM! BOOM!*

Quickly, I activated Level Two, which slowed everything further, and quickly fired at the two limbs before reverting back to Level One. Nepgear caught me and we flew about a meter away from the Kilachine as it's last two limbs blew up, leaving only it's damaged head and wings, which were optional, to destroy. I returned Nepgear's weapon and quickly deactivated "it's" power, if I used too much again, it would end up like when I fought that hooded man. I observed the almost-destroyed Kilachine. It was now moving sporadically, bashing the trees around it and sometimes suddenly stopping. It was starting to malfunction.

I felt somebody touch my shoulder and turned around to see Nepgear, who had a determined look on her face. "U-um, this time...can I lead and have...you back me up?"

I formed a grin. This girl was finally taking action and throwing that pessimistic side of her away. "Whatever you say, My Lady."

She suddenly became bashful. "T-that's not what I meant at all...I...um..."

I laughed as she continued to search for her words. "Sure, I'll back you up."

Nepgear stepped in front of me and held her blade in front of her, ready to charge at it. I was going to be behind her to provide cover. Level One didn't need to be activated anymore, I had adjusted to it's movement speed and would also rely on instincts.

*BANG!* *CLANG!* *CRASH!*

Nepgear lunged at it, flying at a speed that could rival a Lockheed Blackbird, while I sprinted at it. A wing was coming down on her, so I lunged myself at it and performed an uppercut slash, causing sparks to fly and making it's wing face the sky. I then grabbed one of the wing's edges, making my hand bleed, and jumped on top of it's wing before repeatedly thrashing it's weak spot until the wing fell to the ground. On the bright side, one wing had been destroyed, but my blade was now chipped. I wasn't sure if I was thinking more about how strong my blade was or what it was made of, but at least it was still intact.

*BANG! BANG!* *BANG!* *SHK!* *BOOM!*

I landed on the ground as the Kilachine, or what was left of it, tipped to the my right and crashed to the ground. Nepgear then started firing at it's head. I then threw one of the axes at it's head, leaving a dent there, then stabbed the dented area multiple times before pulling my out and dragging Nepgear out of the way with me. It blew up as I found cover behind a boulder, and held Nepgear close to me. Debris flew past us as the shockwave started to spread and I held her closer.

* * *

"…"

When the shockwave subsided, I pulled Nepgear out with me to where the Kilachine had been. There was now a crater here as large as the one you would see in a Michael Bay movie after so many explosions. I sighed as I looked around, there was now an open clearing with destroyed trees and boulders. Then a white light hit my face. I turned to see a white silhouette of Nepgear, as it's body grew a little shorter and a little bit less developed. When the silhouette cleared, Nepgear stood in her usual clothes.

She also let out a sigh. "Whew. U-um, Tolise," I gave her a curious look. "D-did I...do okay?"

I facepalmed. She was so optimistic earlier and now she was back to her usual doubtful demeanor.

She had question marks over her head again. "Tolise? Is that a no?"

I took her hand again and gave it a small squeeze. "You did fine Nepgear. Just try not to be as doubtful."

"U-um, okay. Thanks!"

I started walking back. "It's not a problem. Now, let's head back."

* * *

 **A/N**

 **I managed to get a chapter a little earlier today. I have a question for you guys. Should I put a 'A/N' at the end of every chapter or just put one here when I need to put something important? Let me know. Anyway, if you don't know when I upload, then you can go to my page and look there. On that note, thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter!**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

I pushed the button and watched the door open.

"We're home!"

"I'm home, sis!" greeted Nepgear.

I set the crate right in front of the couch as Histoire came out of a doorway. "Oh, Tolise and Nepgear! Where did you two go?" she asked with curious expression.

Nepgear smiled as her eyes began to sparkle. "Tolise and I went and did a quest, and he got me a robot building kit!" Nepgear exclaimed happily as she pointed at the crate. This girl must really like machines because, not only were her eyes gleaming, but she was practically jumping with excitement.

"Really? What was the quest?"

I plopped down on the couch and turned on the TV to an anime before facing her. "We just had to clear an area of Kilachines," I said before shrugging. "It wasn't that bad."

"Nonsense! Destroying one Kilachine is already a great accomplishment, but to defeat a whole area of Kilachines, that's incredible!"

I let out a chuckle. "Maybe you could get Neptune to do it."

Histoire sighed. "Neptune has been doing nothing but playing. To get her to even go outside, that's an accomplishment in itself."

Nepgear sat down beside me and let out a sigh. "Goodness. Where's sis?

"She's in her room doing whatever she normally does," Histoire let out another sigh. "Maybe you could get her to go do some work again, Tolise."

I leaned back against the couch. "I don't know, maybe," I looked back at Histoire. "But can I play with Nepgear first?"

"Of course. You do your work, so you deserve some time off."

I smiled at her. "Thanks."

* * *

I finished my last line, dropped the pencil and showed the design to Nepgear. "What about this one?"

Her eyes sparkled once again. "Oh! I like that one! Let's use it!"

I set the sheet of paper down and take a sip from my mug of green tea.

We had spent the last two hours trying to figure out a design for the robot we were going to build. Nepgear had all these crazy ideas for what we should make the robot look like, but she just couldn't put it into words or draw it. So I had spent two hours taking guesses as to what she had wanted to make it look like. But every design I sketched would be the opposite of what she thought. Eventually, I managed to get a design that was close enough and we had decided to stick with that.

The design had a plating of pink plastic, yellow beady LED lights for eyes, a bean shaped head, thin elastic arms plated by plastic, black colored bronze pincer claws for hands, a box-type body with a sensor on it and a pair of white caterpillar wheels attached to it's body. Somehow, I hadn't been able to figure out something this simple.

We had decided not to think up of what it could do or put additional features yet and end the planning today.

We walked together towards Nepgear's room and knocked on the door.

*knock* *knock*

"…"

We waited at the door but heard no reply. I cracked the door open and peeked in. Neptune was sitting at her desk, furiously scribbling something in a purple book. She seemed to be too focused on it to notice us.

"…."

"Um...Neptune?"

"Nepu!" Neptune jumped up and fell off her chair as Nepgear let out a gasp.

I quickly activated Level One and caught her before her head made contact with the ground.

"Wah! Your face is too close to mine!"

*SMACK!*

Neptune smacked my cheek and I fell to the ground with Neptune. "Ow! Why'd you do that?" I massaged my cheeks. "I was just trying to keep you from getting hurt."

Nepgear walked up to me and patted the injury on my face with her handkerchief. I smiled at her. "Sis," Neptune gave her sister a strange look. "What are you doing with that book?"

Neptune grinned. "I'm writing down a formula for how to destroy eggplants!"

I gave her a strange look. "Eggplants?"

"Um, sis?"

"I'm gonna rid this world of the evil creatures known as eggplant," Neptune wiggled her fingers as she explained her crazy idea. "Then, I'll making a nation where the CPU is pudding!" Her eyes sparkled.

"Umm..." Nepgear gave her sister a worried look.

"…" What honestly goes on in this girl's mind?

"Cool plan, right?"

Nepgear forced out a laugh. "W-well...it's not a bad ide-"

I cut her off. "Your plan sounds terrible."

"Nepu! It's not a terrible plan," Neptune waved her arms as she tried to defend her plan. "This plan will get rid of this world's Darkness: eggplants!" Is she thinking about what I told her?

"No, it's a terrible plan," I sighed. "Plus, you're too lazy to even run your own nation. What makes you think that you could CREATE a nation?"

Neptune flopped onto the floor and formed a smile. "I'll just get Nep Jr. or Lonely Heart to do it!"

Nepgear and I both let out a groan. "Neptune, you need to get your act together,"Nepgear stated.

"Oh c'mon Nep Jr., if you join me I'll spend my whole day with you~" said Neptune. What kind of a bribe is that?

"Really!? A-a whole day...with sis?" Are you serious?! "No! You have to stop this Neptune!"

I watched the scene in front of me unfold. "But c'mon Nep Jr.! You know I'm not a work type of gal!"

"Bu-" I cut Nepgear off and stood beside Neptune.

"It's alright, I'll help her with her work and make sure she does it right, alright?"

Nepgear thought for a minute before nodding. "Okay, but can I still help?"

"Sure."

"Yeah! Turtle's gonna help me! The power of friendship always triumphs!"

That's such a cliché, but she's not wrong.

* * *

"Keep 'em comin'! I'll stamp as many as I have to!" Neptune flailed her arms as I handed her the next pile of papers.

"Alright, watch this! Bam, bam, bam!" exclaimed Neptune as she furiously stamped paper after paper while I checked them.

*Stamp, stamp, stamp!*

I reached for another pile of paperwork to give to Neptune, but only felt air. I looked at the cart where the work usually sat.

My jaw dropped.

There was absolutely no paperwork left on the cart at all. There had previously been years worth of paperwork on the cart, but after pushing Neptune to work for the next few days, it was all gone. I turned to face her. She was looking at me with eyes of curiosity after she finished the last stack of paperwork.

"What's up Turtle? Did my awesome protagonist powers show itself again?"

I ran a hand through my hair. "Um, no. It's just that...you finished all the paperwork."

*BANG!*

Upon hearing my statement, Histoire and Nepgear rushed into the room with looks of wonder. "Neptune finished her work!?" they exclaimed in unison.

"Nepu! You didn't think I could finish my work?" I ignored her.

"Yeah, all of it has been completed," I pointed at the many stacks of paperwork against the desk where Neptune sat. "See, it's all right there."

"...uh...um...ah..." Histoire was at a lost for words.

"Goodness..." Nepgear kept rubbing her eyes to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

"Well, does that mean that I can play now?" asked Neptune impatiently.

Histoire just nodded but didn't speak. She was clearly shocked to see that Neptune had actually done her work and even finished it. I suddenly felt a tug on my arm.

"C'mon Turtle! Let's go play!" Neptune shouted before pulling me out the doorway leading to Basilicom elevator.

"Hey!"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I decided to keep the Author's note at the end of the chapters. This may seem like a short chapter, but there will be an upload tomorrow, so look forward to that. Also, if you're wondering when the upload time is, then just look on my profile. Lastly, thanks to angeldoesmc for submitting an OC idea and, although I don't mind you submitting ideas currently, I would really appreciate it if you submit OC and story ideas at the very end of the story, but that's just a recommendation. Anyway, thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter!**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

"Um...Neptune?"

She looked over her shoulder at me while she continued to pull me along with her through the streets of Planeptune. "What's up?"

"Where are we going?"

Neptune formed a devilish grin. "We're going somewhere where Histoire and Nep Jr. will never find us," Neptune pressed her body against mine and whispered seductively. "It'll just be you...and me..."

"…" I was panicking. Was I going to get led to a back alley and have horrible things done to me? I thought Neptune was cool, but apparently she wanted to do 'things' with me.

Then she burst out laughing. "Hahahahaha! I'm just joking!" I let out a heavy sigh of relief. I feel like my insides just died. We're gonna go see my good 'ol friend, Vert!"

"Hm? Who is she and why are we going there?" I asked.

"She's the CPU of Leanbox, Green Rack!" Wait, aren't the CPUs called 'Hearts'? "I promised to play an online game with her today and you're coming with me!"

"Um, why's she called Green Rack and why am I coming with you?"

"Well~" Neptune gave a dry laugh. "She has a big rack and the reason you're coming with me is because I might've told her about you, so she wants to meet you."

Figures.

While Neptune continues to drag me, I notice that there are kids with their parents happily eating ice cream together. I bite my lip as I continue to watch them. My childhood was nothing like that, but I had always wished for something like that to happen to me, even if "that" had happened. I always longed for something like that, the feeling of being happy with a loved one. I wasn't exactly desiring love, but just people that I cared for and that cared back. That's what I had wanted, no matter how selfish of a desire it was.

I felt Neptune's tugging cease and looked back at her. She was looking between me and the ice cream stand. "Um, Tolise?"

"Hm? What's up?"

She became flushed for a second. "U-um...do you...want to...get some ice cream?"

"…"

"Huh? What's wrong, cat got your tongue?"

"No, it's just that..." I trailed off.

Neptune let out a gasp. "Wait! Is it that you're _embarrassed_ to be going on a date with such a cute girl like me?"

"No."

"Nepu! You answered that so fast!" Neptune started faking some tears. "Could it be...that...*sniff*...you don't like me!?"

*BONK!*

"Ouchie..." Neptune rubbed her head. "Hey what's up your strawberry cakes today?"

"Look, I wouldn't mind ice cream and all, but could you try to not be so melodramatic?"

"Aww~! But this isn't supposed to be a super duper serious chapter, right Mr. Author Dude?" Wait, what?

 _That's right, Neptune. This isn't supposed to be a heavy chapter with too much plot development in it. Meaning, Tolise, listen to the crazy cutie._

"Thank you Mr. Author Du—Hey!" Neptune reacted mid-sentence.

"What's wrong? He said you were right, didn't he?"

Neptune, once again, started flailing her arms again. "Yeah, he did! But he called me crazy!"

"So?"

"So, not only that, but he gives Nepgear more lines of dialogue than me! That's not fair, it's not right, it's not political and it's not even anything an eggplant would do! An eggplant is nicer! I'm the main character! I'm supposed to be the important one here! Why is this happening to me!?"

"…" Wow, this girl has the power to break the Fourth Wall. That's amazing. "Well, how about we go get some ice cream. I'll buy."

Neptune perked up upon hearing this. "Alright! Let's go and finish this scene, Turtle!"

* * *

"…"

"*Lick*... *Slurp*... *Lick*...*Gulp*...Ah!" Neptune finished her third ice cream cone as we walked towards Leanbox's basilicom. Her face was now smeared with ice cream. I sighed as I took a napkin from a nearby shop and wiped her mouth.

She smiled. "Thanks, Turtle."

I popped the last bit of my wafer cone into my mouth and smiled back at her. "No problem."

"Hey, Tolise."

"Yeah?"

"Whatever happened to the Darkness inside you?" she took a hold of my hand while giving me a worried expression. "How are you feeling?"

"…"

I hadn't told Neptune or anyone else about what Histoire told me about "that" event occurring. I just told her my basic backstory. If they knew about "that" occurring, I would make them all too sad, maybe even break some people's hearts. I didn't want to hurt Neptune, but since she was very serious when she cared, I felt like I could at least tell her about "that".

I let out a sigh and gave her a serious look. "Are you sure you can handle what I'm going to tell you?"

"My body is always ready!" Man, you just can't ever have a serious conversation with this girl, can you?

"Alright. listen carefully..."

* * *

"*Sniff*...*hic*….Tolise..." Neptune continued to dampen my jacket with her tears and cling to me. I knew I shouldn't have told her. "Is...*hic*...there really...*sniff*...no way to stop it?"

"No, sorry," I patted her head.

Her crying subsided. "Do you know when "it's" going to happen?"

"No..."

"But...*sniff*... will you stay with us until "it" happens?"

I gave her a reassuring smile. "I promise."

She gave a small smile. "Thank you..."

* * *

We were almost to Leanbox's basilicom. Leanbox looked like any other city you'd see in my dimension; modern with a bit of green thrown in. Basically, it looked like a modern city above water. There are tall white skyscrapers, warehouses, streets of houses here and there and a variety of shops. However, the one building that did catch my attention was a giant structure covering a third of Leanbox. It reached up to the sky, touched down beneath the sea, had a white prism frame and was striped in the center with green and black lights along with a green circle in the middle.

The basilicom actually turned out to be that giant white prism building but the interior looked like every other basilicom lobby, like a chapel. As we entered, Neptune started being Neptune. "HELLO! Hey! We're here to see Vert!" We were approached by a basilicom staff member.

"Um, excuse me, miss?" We turned to face him. "Are you Lady Purple Heart?"

"Yessiree!" Neptune pointed at me. "And this is the butler that I decided to bring along with me!" Wait, butler!?

"Ah, I see!" he motioned for us to follow him. "Please, right this way."

We were then led down a hallway and into a living area with red cushioned seats with black tea tables beside them, a fireplace, a pine green carpet, many paintings hanging from the wall and there was a woman sitting in a chair doing her work.

The basilicom member came up to the woman and they started talking. After a while, he left the room and the woman got up from her chair and turned to face us. She has light skin, long leaf-green hair that's pulled up by a ponytail with a green and black bow, she has some bangs that reach her forehead and she has a pair of reddish eyes. She wears a long black dress, knee-high black boots, black gloves and a black neck piece with a white center that had a green 'x' at the very center. She gave Neptune a look of disgust.

"Oh, it's you again."

"Yepperoni! And I'm gonna be with Vert all day!"

"Well, whatever." She then noticed me and turned to face me, smiling.

"And who might you be?"

"I'm Tolise."

"Oh, that's a lovely name," she seductively said as she pressed her body close to mine. I kept slowly inching back until I hit a wall and she was right up in my face.

Then she whispered in my ear. "How about you forget about that girl and come have a good time with me."

"…" Blood rushed to my face. All I came here to do was play with Neptune, but apparently getting hit on by some woman was also part of playing I guess.

I let out a sigh. "Um, I just came here to play, nothing else." Plus I also had other commitments to fulfil, but I wasn't going to tell her that.

"Aww~," she faked a sad expression. "But I want to play with you."

"…" I'm gonna die.

"C'mon~. I'll make sure you have a good ti-" She was cut off.

"Hold it Buster Brown!" Neptune wiggled in between us. "He's not your boy toy, he's my servant! Not yours!" She stuck out her tongue.

The women tisked. "Well firstly, my name's Chika and second, I only desire Vert, he's more of a fail-safe."

"Well then back off Jack! Cause I'm gonna whack you with eggplants if ya' don't!"

Chika let out a sigh. "Fine, go see Vert."

"C'mon Turtle! Let's go!" shouted Neptune as she led me down another hallway while I stayed close by her.

* * *

"Yo! Vert, we're here!" a wild Neptune shouted as she kicked the door open.

A woman's voice came from behind a chair. "Yes, yes. Hold on."

"Yeah, yeah. I got it." Neptune flopped down on a nearby couch, not seeming to mind what was in the room at all. She may not have found what was in this room weird considering she's already been here before, but anyone else that came in this room for the first time would find this room absolutely strange.

Without the interior "decorations", it looked like a pretty fancy room. The marble floor was a velvet color with a mint green color carpet, the walls were colored beige with window panes, and a checkered green and beige columned roof with a glass chandelier hanging from the center. It seemed nice, right? Well, if I were to tell you what was in the room itself, it probably wouldn't be so appealing. And the one word to describe that is Otaku. There's a TV, sure, but there's also shelves and cases of anime boy figures along with pictures of them hanging from the wall. But the part that creeps me out the most about this room, is that at the end of the room, is an image of an anime guy that's BONDAGED! I understand I'm not one to judge and all, but unless I'm a girl, I would find that way too uncomfortable. Not only is he only being censored by ribbons, but I'm the same gender and that creeps me out. I let out a sigh. At least it didn't show the lower half.

Everything else was pretty nice though. The bed had an elegant oak-design bedframe, there was white bed sheets, the bed appeared to be made of memory foam, and there was a pink and a green pillow. There was also a white couch with gold lining designs and green cushions. The coffee table, along with the other tables in the room, had a white surface and gold legs. The part that I really liked was the giant monster plushies scattered around the room and it reminded me of the Nep Sister's room.

I took a seat beside Neptune, who was now playing on some big bulky black and green console. "Hey Turtle!" I looked over at her to show I was listening. "Play with me! That's why you're supposed to be here right now!"

I sighed as I picked up the colorful black controler.

* * *

"*Sigh*…..Hey, Turtle."

"Yeah?"

Neptune flailed her arms. "How come you know so many cheat codes for these games!?"

I facepalmed. We had just played for a hour until Vert finished her game and I had won three rounds, while Neptune only won one round.

"Neptune, I already told you. I don't cheat, I'm just better than you; plain and simple."

"No way, I'm the main character!" This again? "I have to have better stats than you!"

We set our controllers down on the coffee table. "Well, guess my stats are just higher."

"No!" Neptune started lightly smacking my shoulder. "You must've bought DLC items or this is a spin-off game where there's a different main character!"

I flicked her forehead. "Owwie! Hey, why'd you do that?"

"Because we're suppose to be playing with Vert, remember?" I say before pointing to her, who is now just looking at us from her chair.

"Oh yeah. Sorry-dorry Vert!" Neptune scratched the back of her head as she said so.

"It's quite fine," Vert replied. "Now, who's is this young man?" Please don't hit on me again!

"This is Tolise, he's a pre-order DLC-bonus character!" Um, I just got sent here and you know that. "And he's my DLC, so back off kangaroo!"

"I would never do that. Anyway, nice to meet you, Tolise," Vert smiled confidently. "I'm the most mature of all the CPUs, Vert or Lady Green Heart."

"Yeah, good to meet you too."

Vert is about an inch taller than me. She has blue eyes, has pale skin and has butter yellow hair that reaches down to her waist and her bangs are neatly combed, allowing her face to be framed nicely. She wears a sleeveless green dress(that's held up by the collar)with gold markings, her waist area has a peach pink bow tied to the back of her dress with a bottom of a long white skirt and her white collar, that has a blue gem piece in the middle, attaches her dress with a white cloth and the back of the dress. She also wears long white gloves along with tall green and white boots with gold lining. Also the reason she probably says she's the most "mature", is because of, as Neptune describes it, her giant rack.

I honestly didn't care about a woman's figure, how fat they were, their rack size, or how bad their life was. As long as they were honest to their feelings, actually wanted to be in a relationship and had a bit of a personality flare to them(which was optional), then I would date her, no matter how bad her problems were(because I would help them get through them). Anyway, back to reality.

"So, Tolise, how would you feel about being my little brother, hm?" Vert proposed as she flashed a smile.

"I'll have to pass." I preferred the Nep Sisters anyway.

"But I'll take good care of you!" she began to pout.

"Sorry, but no means no."

"Yeah! He's my step and god brother thing!" What does that even mean?

"Aww~" Vert's spirit looked like it had been crushed.

I leaned over and whispered into Neptune's ear. "Does she not have a CPU Candidate?"

"Nope! Just her rack and her Oracle that's after her bod!"

"Um, okay."

"Anyway, Vert let's play some Four Goddesses Online!" Neptune shouts as she pulls two laptops out of God-knows-where. "I'm gonna win this time!"

"No way, I'm gonna win!"

"Tolise, you should join us!" Neptune and Vert suggest in unison.

"Sure."

Neptune tosses me a blue laptop and I begin to setup my profile...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This chapter focuses a bit on Vert towards the end. I never really liked her too much, but I also never hated her, I just felt like I should get this one out because we got a few more people to go through before the real intense story starts(might not be as intense as I think). Also, there WILL be another chapter tomorrow again. Anyway, thanks for reading this chapter and I'll see you in the next chapter!**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"NO! Not again!" Neptune and Vert shouted in unison.

"Guys, it's just a game. Chill."

"But we've put millions of hours into this game and you just started playing, but you can already beat us!"

"Well, I guess my stats really are better than any gamer out there," I tease.

"But I've put thirteen hundred hours into grinding, questing and just playing!" Vert gave me a sad look. "How could you beat me with just an hour's worth of gameplay!?"

I shrugged. "All I did was try just play the tutorial, nothing more and nothing less."

"Nepu! Then he must really be a pre-order DLC exclusive!" They're ganging up on me.

I let out a sigh. "Look, I won, okay? So just please stop before you rage quit."

They both crossed their arms and let out a 'hmph' sound before returning to the game.

We had played for about three hours and after I cleared the tutorial, they decided to put me into a PvPvP match against them as a prank. I had the most basic armor and weapon and I had suddenly been taken to a battle against them. But instead of them winning, I had won without even getting a scratch on me. Naturally, they were both shocked by this and challenged me to a rematch. I had won a lot of money for that, considering they had high ranks, and had spent it all on better equipment. When we had fought again, they were much faster and were actually trying their hardest to beat me. This time, they had lowered my health to about forty percent before I defeated them. This infuriated both of them and they kept rematching me for two hours. After they had lost so many times, my rank and level had already become higher than theirs and my equipment was way more better than theirs. Eventually, after fifteen games, they had given up. Which brings us to now.

I got up from the couch and did some basic stretches. "Well, I'm gonna head home to see you're kid sis, Neptune, " I looked over at her. She was clearly concentrating on her game. "You comin'?"

She only shook her head. "I gotta get better than the DLC cheater. That's you." Vert also nodded at this statement.

I let out a sigh as I walked out the door and waved the both of them goodbye.

* * *

*Knock, knock!*

Nepgear opened the door to her room, only peeking her head out. She became flushed when she saw me. "T-Tolise! You're back already?" she asked as she closed the door a bit more.

"Yeah, Neptune's still playing with Vert. You wanna go do something?"

"U-um, sure. J-just let me get dressed first," Nepgear quickly closed the door. Man, she had probably just gotten out of the shower too. I feel like such a scumbag now. I'll just wait for her out in the dining room.

* * *

"*Chew, chew*….pah!" I leaned back in my chair and looked out through the many windows. It was almost noon. I had just made some grilled pork ribs to eat and I had just finished eating when Nepgear walked out of the doorway in her usual clothes. "Tolise?"

I turned to her. "What's up?"

"Are you ready to go?" Go where?

"Where are we going?"

"We're going to go see Uni and Noire," she explained. "You've met Uni, haven't you?"

"Oh yeah!" I snapped my fingers when her image came into my mind. "Mini Noire, right?"

"Um, sure?"

I got up from my seat, put my jacket back on and put the leftover ribs in the fridge after covering them with plastic wrap. "Shall we?"

* * *

"Hey Nepgear."

She turns to face me. "Yeah? What's wrong?"

"Do you want something to eat?" I ask while pointing to a nearby pie stand.

"No thanks. I'm—"

*Growl~...* Her stomach let's out a loud growl.

She holds her hands to her stomach and lets out a small moan.

"It's alright, I'll go buy you one."

Before she has time to thank me, I'm already ordering the pie. After I pay the clerk his desired amount of Credits, I walk back to Nepgear holding a piece of strawberry pie.

"Hey, why do you only have one piece of pie?" she asked as the question marks began to float up to her head.

"I just thought we could share a piece," I explain after handing her a plastic fork. "Plus I'm not really all that hungry."

Nepgear's cheeks reddened once again and she became bashful. "O-okay. Thanks."

"Anything to make sure that you're not sad."

She smiled as she closed her eyes. "Then, thank you from the bottom of my heart," She leaned in to whisper into my ear. "and I'll pay you back someday, somehow."

I patted her head. "You don't have to do that. As long as I can see you truly happy, then there's no need to pay me back."

She shook her head. "No, I will. I promise I'll find a way! I hope..."

I laughed when she added that last part. "Just don't worry about it."

* * *

As we reached Lastation's basilicom once again, I noticed Uni standing outside, looking kind of depressed.

We approached her and she tried to perk up when she saw us. "O-oh! H-hey Nepgear...Tolise."

Nepgear gave her a concerned look. "Uni, what's wrong? Why do you seem so sad?"

She averted her gaze from us. "I-it's nothing. I just...*sniff*...felt like getting some fresh air."

"Uni..."

I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. "Hey, Uni," she looked up at me. "What's wrong?"

"I told you already! *sniff*…. It's got nothing to do with my sister or anything." Man, this is the one time I'm glad she's so dishonest with her feelings.

I place a hand on her shoulder and force her to look me in the eyes. "What's been going with you and Noire?"

She struggled to find her words. "It's...She always looks down at me and is always being so strict," Tears were beginning to form in the corner of her eyelids. "She'll never compliment me unless I can do better than her and *hic* I never can!"

Uni cried as I pulled her in towards my chest and let her cry.

"…"

"Hey, Uni."

She looked up at me. "*Sniff* Yeah?"

"You shouldn't just worry about what your sister thinks, just do your best at what you do."

"But—"

"'But' nothing! Look, you're basically letting her put you on a leash and it's going to make you a destroyed mirror version of her. But you shouldn't just try to be like her, you should be who you really are, not let others around you affect how you are."

"Tolise...*hic*…...wahhh!" She continued to cry.

"There, there. I'll be here for you and so will Nepgear, no matter what."

She looked at the both of us with her puffy eyes. "R-really?"

"Yeah, right Nepgear?"

"Y-yes!"

She pulled away and wiped her tears away with her sleeve. "*Sniff*….Thank you both. I'll try to be strong."

We smiled at her.

* * *

I was now traveling with Nepgear and Uni to wherever the wind took us. "Hey, guys?" I turned to look at the both of them.

"What's wrong?"

"Where are we going?"

"Um, I don't know because I thought you knew. Hey, Uni." Uni turned to face Nepgear. "Where do you think we should go?"

"I don't know, " she paused for a moment to think. "How about we just all go see a movie?"

"Sure," Nepgear and I said in unison.

We were close by anyways and arrived at a nearby movie theater after a few more minutes of walking. There seemed to be a lot of people trying to get tickets today. "You guys wait here, I'll go buy us tickets." They nodded.

I weaved past the crowds of people and approached the ticket clerk. "Hello, what would you like to see today, sir?"

"What's your bestseller today?"

"This one." the clerk said as she pointed to a thriller and action movie with a picture of a guy fighting off robots. Didn't look too bad.

"Alright, I'll take three tickets for teens to see that movie."

"Okay, that'll be eighteen Credits."

I pulled out eighteen Credits and handed it to her. "Thank you."

After she gave me my tickets, I dodged my way back to where Nepgear and Uni had been. I found them there, but I also found something else there. Or rather, somebody.

There stood two teens that appeared to be trying to hit on them. "C'mon! You can come with us, we'll show you a good time."

"Yeah, forget this place! I gotta nice car we could go for a spin in."

"We said 'no'!"

Their faces started to twist in anger. "What'd you say?" They inched closer and closer towards them. "You two are— "

I place both of my hands onto their shoulders. "What was that about these two?"

"What the—Guh!"

"Bos—Huk!"

I kneed one in the gut, threw him over my shoulders, hook punched another one in the jaw, dazing him, and tossed him towards where his friend was.

"D-damn...you!"

I lifted them both up by their shirt collars. "If you two ever try to hit on these girls again, and I know you will, then I promise to make your lives a living hell, you assholes!" I let "it" show it eyes to them, causing them to both turn stark white before I threw them back onto the ground. "Got it?"

They both quickly scrambled to their feet, stumbling over each other. "Y-yes!"

They eventually managed to get to their feet and hurried away. I turned back to face Nepgear and Uni. "Are you two okay?"

Nepgear gave me a worried look. "Yes, we are. But, um, are they?"

"I think they know not to bother you two again," I smiled at them. "Anyway, you guys ready to see the movie?"

They both agreed in unison. "Yeah!"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **There will be a chapter tomorrow, but it'll be pretty short. This is because the story will start to get a bit more character development and I want to get the next chapter's main story out of the way because it's actually been a busy week for me. Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

"Hey, look!" Uni pointed at the basilicom. "We're back at the basilicom."

We all smiled as we opened the doors and entered the basilicom.

Earlier, we had gone and seen our movie, which turned out to be exactly like every Michael Bay movie: explosions and that's why I didn't really like it. Nepgear however, liked looking at the robots and Uni just watched for the explosions while we all shared a large box of popcorn. Eventually, when the movie ended we all walked back, arguing what the best part of the movie had been.

I had told them both that there hadn't been any story and it was just explosions.

Nepgear had said that the robot designs had fascinated her the most about it and was sad to see them die in the end.

Uni also had somewhat similar thoughts. She had said that the gunfights and explosions had kept the movie lively, but I just thought that there were too many.

We had managed to talk for so long that we had reached the basilicom in the middle of an argument, bringing us here.

We reached the living room floor and exited the elevator only to find a lonely Noire on the couch, hugging her legs and talking to herself. Classic.

I motioned her Nepgear and Uni to wait and I sat next to Noire.

"Hey, what's up, Noire?"

She snapped back to reality and saw my face right beside hers. "Hm? Oh, hey Tolise."

"What's wrong?" I pulled her close to me and let her head rest on my shoulder.

"Do you... Think I'm a good sister?"

"Hmm..." This didn't seem too hard to fix. "Do you want an honest answer?"

"…" She paused to think for a second. "Yes."

"I think you're strict and kind enough," I started. "But sometimes you're too strict and dishonest. That's what makes Uni not like you. Because you hold her to such high expectation, she always beats herself up and is always after your attention. That's the thing you need to stop. If you were to hold her to reachable, high expectations, I'd think you'd be an amazing big sister. That's how I honestly feel."

"…" Noire seemed to be processing what I had just told her. I shook her a bit.

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"Have you reached your conclusion yet?"

"Mhm." She got up from her seat, walked up to Uni and pulled her into a hug.

"N-Noire?"

"I-I'm...I'm sorry, Uni." Noire squeezed Uni. "I always held you to such high expectations and I didn't even stop to consider what I was doing. I just didn't know what to do. But I promise that I will now try my best to be a better sister. And...I hope you can forgive me, Uni."

"…"

"…"

"…"

The air was tense while Nepgear and I waited to hear Uni's response.

Uni pulled away from Noire. "Noire..."

"Uni?"

"Noire, I care about you and all, but you're always so strict," Uni bit her lip. "I don't want that. I understand you want me to become great, but it's hurting me more than it's been helping. I just want you to be a supportive sister and I don't like the way you're acting now."

"U-Uni..." Noire looked at her younger sister sadly.

"But," Hm? "If you can promise to be a better sister, then I guess I can forgive you." She gave her sister a small smile.

Tears began to form in Noire's eyes. "Uni...*Sniff*….Yes, I will."

"Sis..." Noire opened her arms to Uni and Uni lunged towards her. "*Sniff* NOIRE!"

"…"

"Hey, Tolise."

I looked over at Nepgear. "Yeah?"

"Promise you'll always stay with me." She took a hold of my hand.

I gave her hand a small squeeze. "Yeah, I promise."

* * *

While Uni played with Nepgear in her room, I was with Noire in her room, but we weren't really doing anything though; just sitting on her bed.

"Hey, Tolise."

"Hm?"

"Did you give Uni advice?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, maybe I did."

"Hey! Don't say that! Give me a straight answer."

I smiled. "I just wanted to see you two happy and I don't want to see any of you sad."

"That's so nice Tolise, ...t...th..." She struggled to say the oh-so-important last word.

I pressed at her to get the last few words out. "You trying to say something?"

"I-I said...t...thank...you" I could barely hear her thanks.

"No problem, now, do you want to do something?"

She let out a sigh. "No, I'd rather spend time with you and watch some TV."

"How about we just go to my place?"

"Fine, I guess."

We walked to Uni's room and found both Uni and Nepgear sitting on her bed talking. "Oh, hey! What's up?"

"Noire's comin' home tonight with me. Are you fine with that, Nepgear?"

She nodded. "Yes. But, can I talk to you later when we get home?"

"Sure."

"Goodbye!"

* * *

"Hmm..." Noire kept flipping through the number of manga books on my desk.

"…" I was just lying on my bed, looking out at the night sky.

"Hey, Tolise."

I moved my head. "Hrm?"

"Why do you care so much about all of us?"

I sat up on my bed. "Because, you guys made me feel like me again."

"What do you mean?" She set down her manga.

I let out a sigh and looked at her eyes. "I used to not be the happiest boy and I had lost a lot," I looked up at the ceiling. "Eventually, I had lost so much, that I didn't carry any emotions for anything anymore. I didn't feel. But, when I met you guys, I actually felt happy for once and felt emotions again. And I don't want to lose these connections. I'll help all you guys and protect you guys. Because you are all important to me for making my life great again."

Noire blushed a bit and smiled. "Thanks, I guess...for caring for me again," I smiled. "Also, thanks for caring about all of us."

I let out a chuckle. "Well, that's my promise to all of you."

"Alright~" Noire gave me a sinister smile. "Then help me by pick a cosplay for next time."

"Why? You're better at cosplaying than I am."

She sneered. "Because you said you 'promised to'."

I groaned a bit. "Fine..."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This chapter was cut short because I just wanted to get the main points into the chapter and work has been taking up my time. All of these chapters these past few days have been for character development. This following week's chapters that are going to be uploaded will focus more back on the other main story. Anyway, thanks for reading once again and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

 _"…" I looked at the void surrounding me, then at my hand. I'm pretty sure I'm back with the Darkness again._

 _The Darkness stood there, only looking at me._

 _I reached my hand out towards it causing it to lash a hand out at me and for me to retract mine. "I guess you're not dead."_

 _"Of course I'm not. If I were to die, you would die too."_

 _"Then, what do you want?"_

 _It sneered. "I'm sure you already know about 'that', right?"_

 _I balled up a fist. "Is that why I'm here? Because you want to speed up the process?!" My anger slowly seeped out._

 _"No, when it triggers it'll be worth the wait."_

 _"Then why?!" I snarled._

 _"Because, I just wanted to talk with you. To observe you."_

 _I let out a deep breath._

 _"What are you gaining from this?"_

 _"Me?" It chuckled. "I'm seeing if you actually have a chance to compromise with me and maybe do something else." Something else?_

 _My anger began to subside. "What do you mean by something else?"_

 _"Oops! I wasn't supposed to say that. Just forget about it."_

 _"…"_

 _"Hey."_

 _"Yeah, you want to try and kill me again?"_

 _I shook my head. "No, it's just... What will happen when 'that' happens?"_

 _"Why? You already know what's going to happen, so why are you asking?"_

 _"No, I mean... Can I possibly stop it?"_

 _It smiled. "I guess you'll figure that out when it happens, won't you?"_

 _I sighed. "I won't even try to fight you this time."_

 _"Well, I guess time will only tell, Lu—"_

 _"I don't go by that name anymore and you know that."_

 _"Oh right, you now go by Tolise, right?"_

 _"Yeah..."_

 _"Well, how about we just wait and see what happens, how does that sound?"_

 _"…" I could only nod my head and think about "that" as I fell back into my deep sleep._

* * *

"Tolise, please wake up."

My eyes fluttered open to see a girl with long lilac hair peering down at me.

"Oh, morning Nepgear."

"Morning, how are you feeling."

I sat up and stretched my body. "Fine, you?"

She gave me a smile. "I'm okay!"

I quickly got dressed. "Do you know where your sister is?"

"Yes, she's playing video games," Oh, I thought she was complaining. "Also, she's complaining about not having anything to eat." Of course.

I opened the door for her. "Well, why don't we both go cook something?" She nodded before walking out the door.

When we reached the kitchen, we found Neptune lying on the countertop, drooling. "Need...food~"

Nepgear gave her a look of concerned while I just waved her off and looked through the fridge. There was some milk, potatoes, chicken breast, spinach, pudding(of course), an eggplant, and some ranch, for whatever reason. There were also a few other things in the fridge too, but I didn't really bother with it, plus I had an idea about what I was going to cook.

"Hey Nepgear, everything else in the fridge that I don't use, you can cook with." She nodded as I took out my ingredients. I decided to make some mashed potatoes and fried chicken breast, and yes, I know that isn't breakfast food, but if Neptune's this hungry, I might as well.

While I was mashing the potatoes and watching the currently-being-fried chicken breasts, I looked over at the countertop to see Neptune having a talk with Histoire, yet again. "Histy! That's not fair! I don't want to go out to do quests, I already did that giant pile of paperwork!"

Histoire let out a sigh. "And how long ago do you think that was?"

Neptune smiled. "Hmmm~… Me thinks it was a few days ago." Yeah, that's way off.

"No, it has been way longer than a few days."

"Huh? Then how long?"

I spoke up. "It's been a few months, Neptune."

Neptune jumped up into the air. "Nepu! No way hosay! That can't be right!"

Oh it's right, and I've been keeping track. After I had met Vert, my life had become even more chaotic. Not only was Chika trying to hit on me, but Vert kept dragging me to her place to play a match of Four Goddesses Online(because she can't accept the fact that I can beat her) and she would sometimes ask me to be her little brother saying something like: "I could give you all the pillowy love you want" and then she would put her chest in my face. I would always refuse because, not only was that not what I wanted in a relationship, it was the fact that I probably had a few others that I probably liked. But I didn't want to take a chance on that, yet. Also, Noire has been dragging me out with her to go cosplay with her while Uni would occasionally use me as target practice while I deflected bullets. Then there were the Nep Sisters. Neptune was always trying to drag me out to do something with her, while I just liked to stay with Nepgear in a quiet room, doing something together. Honestly, I felt so tired from being around them so much, but I could never say I hated it because I didn't. And this had gone on for the past few months while Neptune never did her work.

I shook out of my thoughts and tuned back to Neptune and Histoire's argument. "Just try to get a bit of work done today, please!"

"No! And there's nothing you can do to make me!" That gives me an idea.

"Hey, Neptune," I called out to her. "If you eat my _special_ homemade pudding, you'll have to go do some quests with Nepgear and I." Little did she know what I was going to put in the pudding.

She gave me a worried look. "T-that sounds great and all, but why do you want me to eat your pudding. I mean, your food is good, but this doesn't sit well in my stomach." That won't be the only thing that won't sit well in there.

"I just need somebody to try it, that's all."

"Oh, well okay! I agree to this trade!"

Man, now I kind of felt like a douche for what I'm going to put in her pudding, but hey, she's gotta learn and eat her veggies. I looked over at the somewhat-more-mature Nep Sister. She seemed to just be making some pancakes, which was probably the better choice, but You Only Live Once!

* * *

"Food time!" Neptune exclaimed as Nepgear and I set the platters of food on the table.

"Alright! Let's eat!" Neptune quickly said before chowing down her food like a starving child.

Nepgear and I took a seat next to her. Looking at her face, she seemed to be in complete bliss.

"Hey, Neptune," I poked at her. "Shouldn't you slow down? You might get sick."

She smiled and puffed out chest. "Naw! I be thy main character, so thou can't perish to some silly disease!" Say that while you can...

"But," I pointed at her plate, which didn't even have crumbs anymore."You've already eaten your entire meal."

"See! That means I won't get sick or anything!" Now I kind of feel bad for what I'm about to do.

"Okay, then would you like your pudding yet?"

"Yup! Hand it over!"

I dashed back to the fridge, grabbed a cup of purple pudding and placed it in front of her. She sniffed it. "It smells like grapes!" Yeah, the taste might not be the same.

She scooped up a bit of the pudding. "Welp, down the hatch! *Chomp!*" Neptune chewed the pudding for a bit, gulped it, then smiled. "This taste—HAK!"

Neptune eyes suddenly widened and she frantically gulped down all her milk, mine, and Nepgear's.

She let out a sigh. "Hey Turtle! Why was there an eggplant taste in the pudding!?"

I tried to keep myself from laughing. "Well...I needed a way...to make you eat eggplant...and get you...to do your...mghm...job." I covered my mouth.

"That's not fair! That demon spawn called a vegetable could have killed me!"

"But it didn't and now you have to come do quests with Nepgear and I."

She materialized her wooden sword once again. Well, at least I had a good laugh before I died.

*CRASH!* *BANG!* *BOOM!* *CRACK!* *BANG!*

* * *

"Man, I can't believe you managed to get me to go do quests with you two," complained the girl with short lilac hair.

"Well, it is your job, so you should at least try to enjoy it," I looked over at her. "Hey, after this, I'll buy you a few dozen pudding cups."

"NO!" Huh?

"Why? I thought you liked pudding?"

Her spine shivered. "I can't trust you with buying my pudding after tricking me with that monster you called pudding!" Is she still not over that?

"Look, I'm sorry okay, just try to enjoy this, please?"

Nepgear looked over at her sister. "C'mon sis. It won't take that long."

Neptune slumped over. "Fine!"

We had chosen a quest that was supposed to reward us a lot of Credits. The quest was to find a painting and we were now in an abandoned building looking for it. "By the way, Tolise?

"Yeah?"

"What's the painting look like?"

I paused for a moment to think. "I...don't know..."

"Bah! Who cares!? We'll be able to find it!" Neptune pointed towards the rubble. "There's nothing else here but large rocks and ruins!"

I nodded. "Well you're not wrong. Plus we can—!"

I quickly pushed Neptune and Nepgear back.

*Sk!*

"Tolise! Are you okay?"

"Yeah... I'm fine." Though I knew that was an obvious lie.

The cut burned my chest and blood trickled down. I looked over to see where the blade came from, taking the blade and unsheathing mine.

"…!"

"Hey! That dude is..."

"Yeah," Standing before us was a black-cloaked man with a blade emitting purple lightning.

Nepgear looked at him funny. "Um, who is this man?"

"He's that party pooper that knocked Turtle out!"

"I'll kill you this time."

He let out a laugh. "Can you really do it this time?"

"Yeah, because I have my friends."

"Heh, always you and your friends. Well, I guess I'll show you something special."

He pulled off his left glove.

"…!"

Through the darkness of his hood, I could see his eyes gleaming a frightening purple and his left hand had a tattoo on it, the same as mine but only black.

I cursed. "Shit."

"Now then, let's begin."

Neptune and Nepgear transformed and took a stance with me. "TIME TO DIE YOU SHIT!"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This chapter returns to focusing on Tolise. Also, there will be another chapter tomorrow around the same time. I can't promise a chapter consistently three days in a row, but I will try to upload more and not rush the chapters. Anyway, since I don't have much to say, thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter.**


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

*BANG!*

I quickly jumped to the side before the blade struck me and then I dashed towards the cloaked man, quickly activating Level Two. Everything around me slowed down, but none of us that were fighting slowed. I engulfed both blades in 'red' power and rushed him. He quickly formed a black blade and defended my barrage.

*BANG!* *CRASH!* *BOOM!*

Whatever this blade was made out of, it was definitely strong if it couldn't be cut through with the 'red' power. The only good thing that was coming out of this however, was that I was slowly pushing him back. While he continued to block and dodge my blows, I gave Neptune and Nepgear a few eye signals to tell them to get ready.

*CLANG!* *SKRRR!*

I quickly stepped forward once he was close enough in position and slashed down at him, causing him to try to block it and make our blades grind against each other.

I stepped back. "Now!"

"…!"

As the man stood there trying to process what had happened, Neptune and Nepgear both flew up from behind and slashed at him.

*SHK!* *SK!*

The cloaked man quickly dodged out of the way, only receiving a cut and a tear on his cloak. I gritted my teeth. So, he activated "it", didn't he? Maybe we will lose, but I'm not about to cross that bridge yet.

I dashed towards him once again, entirely activating Level Two. Although everything slowed down further, the cloaked man still moved faster than me. I slashed at him.

*CLANG!* *SHWING!* *BANG!* *BAM!*

I relentlessly continued to barrage him with strike after strike, however he was actually pushing me back while he parried and swung at me. I swung both blades down at him, but he engulfed his blade in purple lightning and black flames then performed an uppercut, sending one blade into the air and leaving my arms in the air.

"…!" He stabbed at me.

*BANG!* *CRASH!*

Neptune and Nepgear suddenly came up from behind and above, blocking his strike and managing to knock him against a wall. "Are you alright, Tolise?" asked a concerned Nepgear.

I cracked my knuckles. "Oh I'm fine, excited even."

A more mature Neptune gave me a curious look. "Hm? Why would you be excited about this?"

"Because, I haven't fought like this in such a long time." But the best part, was that it was actually a challenge.

"But if he can take on two CPUs and some guy with—" I covered Neptune's mouth and whispered into her ear. "You're not supposed to mention that, remember?"

She pulled my hand off. "I'm sorry, I forgot."

I rubbed my temple. "Oh well. Let's just focus back onto the fight."

We all turned back to the cloaked man. His body was now emitting purple lightning. He's got to be at full power by now.

The man let out a laugh. "I honestly didn't think you would all push me this far!" He's consumed by "that" now, isn't he? "However, I think it's time we end this game."

"…!"

Before we had time to take a stance, the cloaked man was in our faces.

"Oomf!"

"Ah!"

"Gah!"

In a second, he knocked us all out and the last thing I saw, was a helpless Nepgear hit the ground...

* * *

"…?" My eyes slowly opened and I winced when I tried to move my body. It felt drained for whatever reason. But what? I tried moving my arms and realized I was chained up. But I couldn't see anything so I wasn't sure where I was or where Nepgear or Neptune were. I gritted my teeth and I felt tears begin to form in the corners of my eyelids. I had promised to protect the both of them, and now, I was chained up and didn't even know where they were. I felt so helpless.

 **"What are you going to do now, boy?"**

"I...I don't know."

 **"Are you going to try to save them?"**

"I can't...move and I don't even know where they are."

 **"Then you can use my power."**

"But... what about the Darkness?"

 **"Yes, but do you remember what you were told?"**

"That I wouldn't awaken the Darkness if I remained conscious and used up too much power?"

 **"Yes, and that's why I won't give you all my power this time."**

"…" I paused to think. But if it meant I could protect Neptune and Nepgear, then I would allow this. "Alright."

* * *

As Nepgear's eyes fluttered open, she couldn't see a thing. It was pitch black and her arms were chained to the wall, slowly sapping her of her strength. She called out into the darkness. "S-sis?"

"…"

"…"

She waited for a response, but heard nothing. She let out a groan. "Ughh...I'm all alone again."

Nepgear thought about back when she had defeated Arfoire. How happy she was that she had been reunited with Neptune, even though she didn't pay much attention to her. She had felt happy. But when she met Tolise, she started to have conflicting feelings. Neptune would always play with him and not spend as much time with her. But when she became sad, Tolise would always come and help her out and he went as far as to promise to always protect her and be with her. She cared about them both so much. Tears trickled down her face. Now she was all alone again.

"…*hic*...Tolise...Neptune..."

"Please...help...me..." She pleaded before the last of her strength left her body and she blacked out.

* * *

*Crash!*

The door to Tolise's room hit the floor and an alarm tripped. *WHRRRRR!*

Hundreds of men wearing combat gear and carrying AK-47s rushed to Tolise's room.

"…" Everybody held their breath as they waited to see what came out of the darkness. Suddenly, a red flash rushed past all of them as they sprayed their bullets at the flash.

*BANG! BANG! BANG!* *Click!*

Eventually, their bullets stopped, bodies were scattered everywhere leaving only a hundred or so men left, and in the center, stood Tolise. The only thing that was different about him, was he now had a fiery crimson aura emitting from him. The soldiers dropped their weapons, cowering in fear. "W-who...are...you? You...can't be the prisoner...Y-you're something else!"

The "something else" looked at the one who spoke with his gleaming, bloodlust-red eyes. He laughed, "Ahahahahaha!" he grinned sinisterly. "You're right, I'm not what was in that room earlier, not at all. I'm the one that brings fear and death to people's lives."

In a flash, the man who had questioned Tolise, was now lying dead at his feet, blood oozing everywhere. "I'm a demon!"

"GAHH!"

*SHK!* *CRACK!* *CRUNCH!* *SHK!* SLASH!*

"…" The demon now sat on top of a pile of dismembered, dead bodies, licking the blood from his cheek. "Heh, maybe I got a bit carried away."

The demon hopped off the pile and looked down a hallway. He had to find those two girls before anything bad happened to either him or them. He knew he was on a time limit before the entire demon consumed him and cause him to lose consciousness, so he began to jog down the long hallway.

When he reached the end, he found that there was a door on his left and right. The left one was heavily guarded while the right one only had one guard at the door. Deciding that the left door was where Neptune and Nepgear were being held, he engulfed himself in the aura again. The guards noticed him once the red flames fully covered him and they all turned pale. "D-d-d-demon!" They all pulled out futuristic weapons, some had blue laser blades while other carried ray guns. "ATTACK!"

*PANG!* *SHK!* *BWONG!* *SHWING!* *BANG!*

The guards with swords rushed at him while the ones with guns fired from a distance. All of the hot lasers hit his body, knocking him back, while the many blades pierced through his head and chest. He fell to the ground and the guards pulled their blade out and put their weapons away, letting out sighs of relief.

"You guys really are gullible, aren't you?"

"NO WAY!"

*SHK!* *SLASH!* *CRASH!* *SHWK!*

The demon sighed as his injuries healed almost instantly. "Man, at least provide _some_ challenge."

"Maybe, I'm killing too many of them." he looked down at the many bodies scattered on the floor. But he couldn't help his lust. It brought him pleasure and satisfied him, but he knew his vessel wouldn't like it. He looked over at the right door only to see another dead guard. Maybe he did kill too many. "Well, I'll leave the rest up to you."

* * *

I inhaled a breath of air, it had a tinge of blood to it. "Not again!"

I looked around me. I was right in front of a futuristic chrome door and was surrounded by a lot of dead bodies. Yeah, maybe I should've stayed in my room until I came up with a plan. I opened the door and looked inside to see one of the two lilac-haired girls. "Nepgear!"

I ran up to her and broke her chains off, catching her before she hit the ground. She was back in her normal form.I lightly smacked her cheek. "Hey, Nepgear."

"…" She didn't respond.

"Oh you better not do this to me after I promised!"

I quickly dashed back outside and looked through the guard uniforms for any type of medical supplies.

Nothing.

I ran back up to her and sat her up against the wall, her breaths were ragged and she was slowly turning pale. I slammed my fist against the wall. I wasn't going to let her die after coming so far and because of my stupidity. I was going to save her. I formed 'red' energy into my hands and slowly sank it into her chest. She wasn't going to die, not if I had anything to say about it. I was going to save her, no matter what.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This chapter is actually really important to the story in the future. Also, this chapter reveals more about Tolise's backstory and what "it" is and Tolise's name. Trust me, it's not that hard to figure out. But there will be yet another chapter tomorrow because of the schedule, also I hope you guys have been enjoying the three chapter uploads because I really do enjoy writing these chapters and I want to brighten your days. Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

"…" I waited.

"…" Please, don't die.

"…!" I noticed her finger twitch. "Hey, Nepgear!"

I lightly shook her shoulder. "Nepgear?"

"...Ughhh...No, I want to sleep with sis." Thank goodness!

I let out a sigh. "Hey, Nepgear. If you don't wake up, I'll tickle you again!"

Her eyes suddenly snapped open. "Goodness! I'm up." She scrambled to her feet.

When she fell back down on her bottom, she let out a moan. "Ouchie!"

"Nepgear..." I caressed her cheek. "I'm glad you're safe."

Tears began to stream down her face. "*hic*….*sniff*...T-Tolise...WAHH!" She threw her arms around me and I pulled her into a tight embrace while she dampened my jacket. "I-I thought...*sniff*….that you wouldn't come and...*hic*….*sniff*….I would...*hic*...die."

I stroked her hair. "I told you that I would protect you, didn't I?"

"T-thank...you..*sniff*" Nepgear nuzzled against my chest and smiled. "I'm glad you came and saved me."

"Why would I not come?"

She giggled and pressed her body against mine and we stayed like that until Nepgear was satisfied.

She pulled away from my chest. "Tolise, I—"

"Hey you two! Now's not the time to be all lovey-dovey! We have to get out of here!" We turned to the door to see Neptune in her HDD form.

She looked severely different from her normal form. She's now as tall as Vert, her lilac hair is now a darker shade and her hair has become so long that they're now in twin-tail braids, while her bangs have also gotten longer and frame her face better. Her white D-pad hair clips have now changed to black circular clips with a blue glowing 'x' on each one. She wears a skin tight black suit with silver lining that reveals her chest area, wears purple leotard underneath her suit and black gloves and boots. Also, her body is much more curved and mature.

"Sis!" Nepgear ran up to Neptune and threw her arms around her. "I thought I lost you!"

Neptune patted her head. "It's alright, I would never leave you."

I stood up. "How'd you escape? Weren't you chained up?"

Neptune smiled. "No, all that was in the room were a bunch of disgusting eggplants," Figures. "So I just quickly escaped and came out to find a bunch of dead men."

"Oh, yeah. Hahahaha..." I laughed dryly.

"Did you kill all of them with...y'know?" Neptune tried to not say the word.

"Yeah, that's how I escaped my room and saved your sister."

"Then, does that mean there are more dead bodies?"

I nodded. "Let's just focus on getting out of here."

"Right."

I peeked my head out the door to see if anybody was around, but there wasn't anybody there. I motioned for Neptune(who was carrying Nepgear) to come out. "I guess you really did go overboard." She gave me a concerned look.

"Can we please not talk about this?" I peeked down another hallway. "I don't like thinking about that."

Neptune sighed. "Alright."

As we walked down another hallway, I noticed that there was absolutely nothing here but a door at the end, no enemies or traps, maybe we were going to meet the cloaked man again. I pushed the button to open the door and instantly pushed Neptune against a wall as bullets rained in.

*BANG! BANG! BANG!*

"Well, at least this won't be too boring." I looked over at Neptune who was trying to shield Nepgear. "Hey, Neptune?"

"Yes?"

"Can you give me a weapon?"

"Sure."

A black and red blade materialized in front of me and I caught it. I looked back at the doorway. "You wanna go another round?"

 **"I thought you didn't want me to come back out."**

"Well, I actually need you this time. Please~."

"It" let out a sigh. **"I can't give you too much power if you don't want the Darkness to come in."**

"That's fine. I want to actually remain fully conscious anyway."

 **"Alright, but don't blame this on me if you screw this up kid."**

"Yeah," I looked over at Neptune. "Just make sure you protect your sister and don't come out unless I tell you to."

She nodded. "Alright."

I smiled as my vision slowly became consumed in crimson. **"Let's start."**

I engulfed my blade in as much 'red' energy as I could and dashed out to the big, open room.

*CLANG!* *BANG!* *DINK!* *SHK!* *SLASH* *SK!*

As the bullets began to rain down on me, I deflected as many as I could, letting the healing repair the wounds, while I slashed at the thousands of men, staining me with more and more blood. I ran up to one and quickly chopped off his head before twisting my body to slice another down the center. They were all so slow now because of "it's" power that I could kill hundreds before a single bullet touched me. But I knew I couldn't waste time, I had to hurry up before I ran out of power. I formed a blade made out of 'red' energy and slashed towards a wave of men, creating a long, thin sword beam that cut through each of them. I looked around. There were only about a few hundred or so left.

I tossed the blades aside, channeled my remaining energy into my right hand, causing my hand to turn red and form a red ball of 'red' energy consumed by crimson flames, and faced the remaining wave in front of me. They were moving so slowly. **"Die."**

I dashed towards the man closest in the middle of the first row and rammed the ball of energy into his chest.

*BOOM!* *WHRRRRRR!*

Once the ball made contact with him, it expanded into a giant explosion, vaporizing everything it touched. When the energy disappeared, all the men were gone and there was a giant opening in the wall, letting sunlight shine in. I sighed. **"Okay, you can get out now."**

 _ **"Awww, but I was starting to have fun."**_

 **"No, get out."**

I felt the 'red energy' leave me as the world's time turned back to normal and I collapsed onto the floor where many bodies lay. "Hey! Neptune, you can come in now."

"Okay." She walked into the room and instantly put a hand to her mouth. "What happened?! There's so much blood!"

"All I did was get rid of the men in here."

"But I just waited for a minute and all I heard was a few screams and explosions." She examined the room. "And you killed all these people in such a short amount of time."

"Well, I can't move anymore, so I hope you're fine trying to carry two people."

Neptune let out a sigh. "Yeah, yeah," she threw me onto her back. "Let's go."

* * *

I collapsed onto my bed, letting my body sink in. We had only been gone for a few hours and I felt so much pain. Neptune and Nepgear were now in their room doing whatever they did together. I buried my face into my pillow. I just wanted to sleep. I felt my eyelids becoming heavy.

"Hello? Tolise?"

I groaned as I raised my head to look at the door. It was Noire. "Oh, hey Noire." I let out a yawn. "What's up?"

She became flustered. "I-I just forgot something in here, that's all." Sure girl. "I-it's not like I came here to see you or anything!" She crossed her arms.

Just keeping lying. "Then why _did_ you come here?"

"I-I told you! I-it's because I forgot something here!"

"Can you look for it some other time? I'm really tired right now."

"No," Noire paused for a second. "It's actually because Histoire told me to check-up on you."

"Well, I'm fine, so there's no reason for you to worry about me."

She smiled for a second. "Well...that's good," her cheeks turned to a deeper shade of red. "Um...can I...feed...you...?" How many times have I had déjà vu?

If she could see what was going on inside my head, she would see a face of complete surprise. "…"

"Tolise?"

I gulped. "Y-yeah. Sure."

She smiled. "Okay, wait right there."

I don't exactly have a choice considering I couldn't move. Oh well.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I'm going to be honest, I've kind of almost run out of ideas. Although I have about eleven chapter ideas left, I would really appreciate it if you leave some ideas in the reviews or by PMing me because I want all of you to enjoy the story too. The next chapter will be a light chapter and will also be uploaded tomorrow. Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

"Here, open up." Noire held a spoonful of chicken noodle soup up to my mouth. I mean, at least it's not oatmeal again, that would really make this a cliché. I ate the chicken noodle soup.

While she continued to feed me, I thought about earlier today. That cloaked man seemed to have "it" in him as well, but he had a different version of "it", considering his aura and his "tattoo". After he had knocked us out, we were taken to the a strange building in Lastation that had been heavily guarding us. There had been a few other ways we could have gone while we were in the building, but we were more worried about escaping than exploring. But now it bothered me that I didn't know what was in the other rooms and that we didn't see the cloaked man. Maybe I was just thinking about it too much.

I unconsciously opened my mouth and bit what was in front of me. "OW! You dumbass!"

*SMACK!*

I fell onto my bed with a red mark on my cheek. "Ow..." Man, that girl can hit. "I-I'm sorry."

"Hmph," she turned her back towards me. "'Sorry' won't work this time. I was nice enough to feed you and you bit me. That's unforgivable!"

"Look, you never told me that the bowl was empty, plus you held something up to my face and it became an instinct to bite."

She pouted. "S-shut up! You should just be more careful about where you bite!"

"Yeah, yeah."

"So, can you move yet?"

"No, my body still feels sore."

She let out a sigh. "Well, why can't you get better faster?"

"Because I'm a human," I'm technically human. "And why do you want me to heal?"

"Because," she looked down at the floor. "I...want you to go cosplay with me."

I let out a laugh. "Well, why don't ask Uni to go with you?"

"She'll probably find it stupid and embarrassing."

"Nah, she'll probably find it fun and she'll enjoy spending time with you."

She looked back up at me. "Do you really think so?"

I smiled. "I do."

She returned the smile. "Alright, thanks again, Tolise."

"Don't mention it."

She waved me a goodbye before leaving. Well, I got to eat, so now I can sleep.

* * *

 _"It's that boy! That's the demon child!"_

 _The hulking man cracked his knuckles. "Don't worry, I'll crush him like a bug."_

 _A fist flew my way and my "genes" instantly activated. I used my stubby arms and the "gene's" power to block the punch. "What the hell!?"_

 _Then, my right hand began emitting a fiery aura as the "genes" consumed my consciousness._ _ **"You people...should go back home."**_

 _They were speechless, cowering in fear._ _ **"IN HELL!"**_

 _I stabbed my hand into the man's chest as everything around me faded to black._

* * *

"Tolise, hey!" A voice called out to me. "Wake up!"

"Five...*snore*…..more...zzzz...min...utes..zzz..."

"Please! It's already midday." SHIT!

I quickly forced myself off my bed and changed clothes, passing Nepgear, who was sitting on my bed. "Sorry! I'm up."

"Goodness, you already missed breakfast," Nepgear gave me a concerned look. "You have to try to get a good amount of rest but also not too much."

I finished changing clothes. "Sorry, my body hurt a lot yesterday."

Her look changed to worry. "Really? Do you still hurt anywhere?"

I smiled. "No, but thanks for asking."

"Do you want me to make you something to eat?"

"Sure, thanks."

* * *

After I had finished washing my face, I went out to the living room to find Neptune playing video games and Nepgear cooking some food to eat. Neptune looked up at me. "Howdy Turtle!" she paused her game. "How are you feeling?"

I shrugged. "I'm feeling fine," I sat down on a dining room chair. "How about you?"

"I feel like I can pierce the Heavens with my awesome protag drill!" Well, at least Neptune's still Neptune.

Nepgear placed a plate of scrambled eggs and French toast in front of me. "Sis, you shouldn't say things like that."

"Naw!" Neptune waved her hand to signal not to worry about it. "It'll be fine. This isn't supposed to be a serious story. Even the creator knows that, right?"

"…"

"…"

 _Hey, Neptune._

"Wassup Mr. Author?"

 _There's actually a story._

"NEPU! No way!" Neptune began to jump around in excitement. "Tell me what the story's plot is!"

 _The plot is—_

* * *

Nepgear and I had gone off for a walk in the park at her request. As we walked down a trail, I noticed many happy couples and kids walking or playing around. It made me smile. I used to envy those types of bonds, but now I actually felt like I had one of those bonds and that was all I wanted in life.

Back then, I remembered I had wandered around a rural part of a city, then ended up in an alleyway and found a group of orphans sitting around, wishing for food. I had joined them for a bit because I didn't exactly have any parents either, so I helped the kids get food and we eventually all became friends. At the time, we had all been happy, but when the cops had caught us, "it" had consumed me and I had destroyed everybody in that city. But I had learned to cherish my bonds and protect my loved ones because of it.

I tuned back into the world. We were now facing a large lake, the sunlight making the lake shimmer. "Ahhhh~" Nepgear's eyes sparkled when she saw the beautiful lake. We sat down together on a flat rock and Nepgear rested her head on mine. "Y'know, Tolise."

"Yeah?"

"I used to always rely on Neptune, then this event involving a being named Afoire happened and I was forced to grow up."

"…"

"After we had defeated her, I was back to being happy with Neptune again. But she always spent time with her friends while I did work," I patted her head. "But I was still happy that she was around."

"Eventually, I met you and I didn't know what to do anymore. You would always care for me, but Neptune would spend more time with you than she did with me. I just couldn't decide whether or not I liked you or Neptune more."

"…"

She smiled at me. "But in the end, I realized I cared about both of you equally."

I smiled back. "Connections don't disappear. Your ties with others will always stay there, with the ones you hate and the ones you love. Even if they try to cut their ties with you, they still will have feelings for you."

She gave me a confused look. "Huh? Why're telling me this?"

"Because, no matter where I go or where Neptune goes, we'll always keep our ties with you. And you can reach out and strengthen those ties"

She looked at me with awe. "….Tolise," she put her hand against her chest. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," I smiled deviously. "Now..."

I pushed Nepgear off the rock and into the water. "Kyahh!"

*Splash!*

A second later, her head resurfaced with a pouting face. "Why the goodness did you do that!?"

"Don't you like the swimming?"

Her cheeks turned pink. "I-I do, but I'm wearing my normal clothes, not a swimsuit or anything."

I stood up. "If it makes you feel better, I'll come in with you," I jumped in.

*Sploosh!*

"Ah!" She tried to shield herself from the water. I resurfaced and shook the water.

"What do you want to do?"

I chuckled. "Isn't it obvious?" I splashed some water at her.

"H-hey!" she retaliated back by dumping some water on my head.

"Let's have a water fight. If I win, then we're going to do something I want to do, but if you win, you can make me do anything you want."

"Alright, I'll do my best!" Nepgear scooped up some water and splashed it in my face.

* * *

I looked up at the stars as Nepgear sat in between my legs. "That was fun."

"Yeah, but it was cold," I stoked her hair. "Ready to head back?"

"Yes," Nepgear looked up at me and smiled. "Especially since I won."

I sighed. "Don't rub it in."

She grinned. "Eheheh, sorry."

I scooped her up into my arms and began walking home.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **So, this chapter is a bit of a breather and reveals a very important thing about Tolise. On a different note, I'm not sure if I'll be able to upload much or even at all next week because I'm going on a trip, but I'll see if I can. Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

*Clang!* *Dink!* CRASH!*

I sighed as the stadium of people cheered. Fighting these monsters now was too easy. I looked over at the pile of dead Ancient Dragons. There were hundreds in a pile near a gate and I still had to kill ten more of these things before the simulation ended. I leaned against a wall.

"GROAHH!" They charged at me.

*SHK!* *SHHHWK!*

As one reached a few feet from me, I stabbed it in the abdomen and pulled my blade down, causing blood to splash everywhere and leaving a long-red, vertical slash mark before it fell to the ground. I turned around to see all nine rushing me in a wave. Deciding this was getting too boring, I activated Level One.

*BANG!* *SK!* *SHK!* *SHWING!* *CHK!* *SLASH!*

I slowed down time and quickly slashed each of their heads off. When I deactivated Level One, they all lay at my feet, dead. The crowd's cheers were causing the ground to shake, but I simply shrugged and walked towards the bidder as he handed me a giant case of credits. I quickly opened the case, took out a tenth of the case's money and handed the rest of the case back to the bidders. "Here, I don't need it. Go crazy."

Sweat poured down the bidder's face. "A-are you sure? T-that's a...lot of...money."

"I already told you, I don't really care much about the money. Plus, I don't think I deserve this money if these simulations are too easy. So keep it." I walked towards the door.

"Thank you!" the bidder quickly added before I walked out.

* * *

"Hey, I'm home," I peeked into the living room.

"A wild Tolise appeared!" Neptune pointed at me as she pulled out a ball. "I'll catch you and complete my Pokedex !" She threw the ball towards my face.

I quickly caught it and threw it back at her. She dodged. "Hey! You're not supposed to catch it! You're suppose to let it catch you!"

I smiled. "Sorry, but this monster isn't getting caught today."

She slumped over. "Aww~. I was going to catch all one hundred fifty-one of them!"

I patted her head. "Don't worry about it."

"Okay..."

"Do you want to go do something?"

"Yeah! Let's go see Vert again!"

She grabbed my wrist and dragged me back out the door. "Hey!"

* * *

"We're gonna win this time!" Neptune pumped her fist into the air.

"Yes, after many hours of grinding, we're going to win," says an overconfident Vert.

"Yeah, yeah," I stretched my arms. "You guys said that last time."

"SHUT UP!" they shouted in chorus.

"Whatever."

…

…

…

After playing for a few hours, they were in ruins.

"No... This can't be," Vert took off her headphones and rested her head against her desk.

"Not my...pudding fund," Neptune looked like she was about to cry.

I sighed. "Look, I'm sorry, okay?"

Vert materialized a lance while Neptune materialized her wooden blade. "Time for Tolise's punishment." They both slowly inched closer and closer towards me, wearing the happiest smile I've ever seen, which just made them look more menacing.

"Um, guys?" I hit a wall.

"Are you ready for your punishment?"

"But it was just a game."

"And gaming is competitive. We'll do whatever it takes to win."

"Hey, I don't want to fight."

"Well, we do."

I thought for a moment. Maybe I could escape, or I could face them head on.

"Hey, Neptune."

"What's up, bub?"

"Um, if you don't attack me, I'll buy you as much pudding as you want right now."

Neptune stopped her advancement. "Really?"

Vert looked over at her. "Neptune, you shouldn't succumb to such ridiculous things like that."

I quickly said, "Vert, if you also stop, then I'll give you all my in-game items."

"REALLY?!" I mean it's just a game. "Even the Legendary items?"

"Yeah..."

Vert shoved a laptop in my face. "Do it now," she demanded.

"…"

"…"

I quickly transferred all my items to her and handed the laptop back to her. She smiled. "Alright, I'll let you live this time."

"Th—!"

Before I had time to thank her for not killing me, I was yanked out of her room by Neptune. "We're going to buy all the world's pudding!"

When we reached a nearby pudding store, I looked around at how much pudding Neptune was grabbing. This was madness. "Hey, Neptune?"

She looked over at me. "Yeah?"

"Don't you have crates full of pudding at home?"

She let out a dry laugh and scratched the back of her head. "Well, I might have eaten it all."

My jaw fell open. How could someone eat so much so fast? "But there was at least a thousand cups. Are you serious?"

"Serious as my bottom rear!"

"…" I walked up to the old lady at the counter. "Hey, we're going to buy all your pudding and you can just keep how much I pay you, okay?"

The lady smiled. "Certainly," she crunched in some numbers on a nearby calculator. "Here's your price."

I gulped. The things I do for these girls.

* * *

"Here, let me take that," I took a crate away from Nepgear and we continued to walk towards the basilicom. In the end, Neptune had bought double what she had gotten from the arcade. It was already almost evening and we were seventy-five percent of the way done moving all the pudding. We would probably be done by now if a certain someone was actually helping.

"Turtle! Stop moving like a turtle!" The lazy CPU smacked my head.

"I'm sorry, maybe if you helped us, we would be done by now."

"I am helping!"

"Really, how?"

"I'm supervising!"

"All you've been doing is eating Pocky while you yelled at me to move faster!"

"Nuh-uh!" Neptune shoved a stick down my mouth.

"Mmghf!"

"See, I'm giving you snacks!"

I gagged and quickly swallowed the snack. "You almost just killed me with that!"

"Doesn't matter! Forward march!"

* * *

We were finally done. Nepgear flopped onto the couch. "Haa...haa...mm...I'm...so...tired."

I sat down right beside her and patted her head. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Wa...ter...water."

I quickly dashed over to the refrigerator and pulled out a cold bottle of water, ran back to her and handed the bottle to her. "Here."

She gave me a weak smile. "Thank you."

I turned on the TV to a show showing adorable bunnies. Man, I wish I could've watched kids shows when I was born. But no, "that" just had to happen and ruin my life. I looked over at Nepgear who was watching the TV with interest. "Do you like watching kids shows?"

She shook her head as her cheeks turned a bit red. "The bunnies are just so adorable!"

I smiled. "They are."

She pulled herself away from the TV and looked over at me. "Where's Neptune?"

I chuckled. "She's in her room eating her pudding."

Nepgear let out a sigh. "Goodness."

"Do you want some?"

She gave me a worried look. "But Neptune will kill you if she knows you stole her pudding."

I pulled out two pudding cups from my pocket and handed one to her. "I bought some before she took it all. It's still a bit cold."

She smiled while pulling off the seal. "Thanks."

I nodded as we watched the bunny show.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This chapter is also light because I don't know how many times I'll be able to upload this week. If I can upload, I'll upload more this week but no guarantee. Anyway, I want to ask you guys something: Who's your favorite HDN character? I'm only asking this for fun and because I want to interact more with all you readers. But anyway, thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

"Come on Turtle!" pleaded Neptune.

"No," I said sternly and pointed to the pile of pudding cups in her room. "You've already eaten so much. You've had enough today."

"But that's my normal!" Neptune lunged at me again and I dodged out of the way, holding the cup of pudding.

"You're gonna get chubby if you keep eating so much!" I pointed at her belly. "How do you like them apples?"

*Thwack!*

"Oof!" Neptune tackled me, making the pudding cup fall from grasp and allowing her to catch it.

She grinned happily as she got up and tore off the seal. "Hehehe! My apples are better than yours!"

I slowly pulled myself off the ground and sat on one of the dining room chairs. "Damnit."

IF sighed. "Geez, Nep, why do you have to be so childish? Tolise is right, you might actually get fat at this rate."

Neptune jumped into the air. "Nepu! Iffy, you're turning towards the dark side?! I thought we were friends, young padawan!"

IF sighed. "I'm not turning against you, I'm just trying to help you."

"No! Compa, Nep Jr., you guys are on my side, right?"

"Well Nep-Nep, your belly has seemed to have gotten a bit bigger."

"No, not you too Compa!"

Neptune turned to face Nepgear. "Um, you're going to make our room a mess and your body won't function right if you eat nothing but sweets, Neptune."

"Nep Jr., NOOOOO!" Neptune fell to her knees, still holding the pudding. "I know! Histy, you agr—"

"Absolutely not!" Histoire quickly responded in a firm tone.

"Aww~" Neptune fell onto the floor. "Man, you guys all suck!"

"Sorry, we're just trying to look out for you," I pulled her up off the ground and set her on the couch. "You can finish that cup, but after that, that's it for today, alright?"

"Really?! Okay!"

I walked back over to the dining table, watching Neptune savor her pudding. "That girl..."

"So, Tolise," IF addressed me. "You wanna go to Lowee with Gear, Compa, Neptune and me tomorrow?"

"Lowee?"

Compa nodded. "Yeah! There's a lot of pretty snow there and the CPU there lives in a giant castle!" Compa spread her hands as far as she could to show how big it was, making me laugh.

"Alright, I'll go."

"Great!" IF turned to face Histoire. "Histoire, would you also like to come with us?"

Histoire shook her head. "I would rather not. I need to watch over the basilicom."

"Alright, maybe next time."

"Maybe..."

* * *

While Nepgear, IF, Compa and I were cleaning off the table and dishes, Histoire hovered over to me. "Tolise, we need to talk." She looked at me with a serious face.

"Alright."

We walked to my room, I locked the door and turned back to face Histoire. "What is it?"

"Have you met that cloaked man yet?"

I nodded. "Twice actually, why?"

"Because, he's after something that you have."

"Do you think it's the Darkness?"

"Maybe, do you know if it has "that" in him like you?"

"Yeah, he does," I thought back to back then. "The only difference was that his 'tattoo' was a different color from the 'others' and so was his aura."

"I see...," Histoire closed her eyes to think. "Then just be careful if you run into him again, listen to the advice I gave you and make sure to contact me with this device if the Darkness starts to come out," Histoire materialized a touchpad with a single blue button in the center. "Just press the button to contact me."

I took the touchpad from her and stuffed it into my pocket. "Thanks."

"Not a problem and have fun tomorrow,"Histoire said with a smile.

I smiled back.

* * *

"It's so...um," I looked around me. "Snowy."

"Of course it is! It's Lowee and it's always snowing, which means we can play all day long!" Neptune threw some snow into the air.

"By the way," I turned to face IF. "Why are we here?"

"I just have to gather some information about something," IF pointed to Neptune. "And she's just here to play."

I sighed. "That sounds about right..."

I looked around at Lowee. It looked pretty simplistic. All the buildings range from many bright colors with a bit of white color thrown in, the buildings were covered with snow, there was a giant white castle with colorful tower tops, past the castle was a group of large mountains covered by snow and everyone that I saw looked really happy and peaceful. It did seem to be a pretty fun place to be.

* * *

Besides IF and Compa, who wanted to go with IF, we were walking through the streets, heading towards the basilicom. "Hey, Nepgear."

"Yeah?"

I pointed to the castle. "Is the basilicom in Lowee really that giant castle?"

"Yes, it's very nice."

Neptune let out a laugh. "The only thing I wish Lowee had though, is a crepe shop."

"Why?"

She looked over at me with a look saying 'Are you stupid?' "Are you stupid? Crepes taste good!"

"Yeah, but not everything revolves around eating and playing video games."

"Sure it does! If I can play video games, eat and not get lectured by Histy, then that means everything is peaceful!"

"…" This girl. "By the way, what's the CPU of Lowee like? How about her sisters?"

"Slow down with all the questions!" Neptune pushed Nepgear in front of me. "Nep Jr. will explain that all to you!"

"Goodness, why me, sis?"

"Because you're better with your words!"

"O-okay," Nepgear gave her attention to me. "Well, her name's Blanc and she has two little sisters, Rom and Ram. Blanc...is, um, she—"

Neptune spoke up. "She has anger management problems!"

I nodded. "Sure..."

"Also, Rom and Ram are pretty nice and they're always together."

Neptune chimed in. "Just meet them IRL, it'll be much easier that way!"

I was starting to worry a bit. "Okay..."

* * *

"Wow, this really is a big castle." It looked like it could touch the Heavens.

"Well, that's Blanc for ya'," Neptune smiled. "I bet you she's just waiting to get kidnapped by some turtle king so her sisters can save her!"

"Or maybe she just wants to live in this big castle, ya' know, normally."

"Pffft! Yeah, right!" Neptune kicked the grand double doors open.

*BANG!*

Neptune shouted at the top of her lungs. "Hey Blanc! We've come to play!"

The inside so far looked, of course, like a chapel. Past the walkway and workers, there were another pair of doors that led to two long, spacious white hallways with wooden doors against the walls and blue marble flooring. "Is all this room really necessary?"

"You can never have too much room!"

"Yeah, but if you don't use all of this space, then it's a waste."

Nepgear gave me a look of curiosity. "Does that mean you prefer small houses?"

"No, I'm just saying there's such a thing as too much room."

*Tmp!* *Tmp!*

We turned to the left to the sound of echoing footsteps. "Hm?"

"Why are you guys here? I just want to read in peace." said a girl's voice.

When the girl rounded the corner, Neptune smiled. "Hey Blanc!"

There stood a girl about an inch shorter than Neptune with short sandy-brown hair, pale skin and dark blue eyes. She wears a white cap with blue ruffles and a brown and gold center. Her clothes consist of an open white coat with brown lining and a white dress underneath with brown and blue lining. In addition, she wears a blue, crossed ribbon around her neck with a gold and blue badge in the center, wears blue sandals and a bandage-like white ribbon around her right calf.

She looked over at me. "Who is this? Another one that wants to disturb me?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm just some guy."

She gave me a blank stare. "What's your name?"

"Tolise, and you?"

"I'm Blanc." She pulled out a book from God-knows-where and flashed it in my face. "If you don't disturb my reading, I won't have to punish you people." She gave us a deathly glare. "Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah Blanc!" Neptune waved her off. "Hey, can we play on your consoles?"

"…" She returned to her blank stare. "Don't disturb my reading."

She walked away from us and entered the first door on her right, leaving us standing there. I guess that's a yes. "Well, why don't we go find her consoles?" Neptune suggested.

She ran across the hallway and turned the corner. "Hurry up or I'm going to find all a hundred coins!"

I turned over to look over at Nepgear. "Want to follow her?"

She wore a worried look. "I'd be more worried if we didn't..."

And like that, we were following Neptune once again...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I'm thinking I might be able to get all three chapters out this week, with the exception of Friday. Anyway, after a few more chapters, I'll start on completing the first arc. Yes, there are arcs to this series and there are four, technically five in total, each revealing more about Tolise, his past, and the people he knew. But that's for another day. Anyway, thanks for reading once again and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

"Yay! I finally beat sis!" Nepgear beamed the happiest smile to me.

I smiled. "Good job."

"Man, I can't believe I lost!" Neptune flopped onto the nearby couch.

"Why aren't you playing, Tolise?"

"Hm?" I looked over at Nepgear. "Well, it's because—"

Neptune pointed at me. "It's because this guy's a cheater!"

I sighed. "That's why I'm not allowed to play."

"I'm sorry," Nepgear apologized.

"I don't mind," I walked towards the door. "I'm going to go get some fresh air, okay?"

Nepgear waved me goodbye and I exited the room. Truth was, I wanted to go spend some quiet time with Blanc because she seemed to enjoy the quietness like me. I walked back over to the door where she had gone in earlier and cracked open the door a bit to see what she was doing. I looked in to see her sitting in an armchair, reading a book. When she heard the door open, she looked over at me with a doll-face look. "What do you want?"

I walked in the room and closed the door behind me. "I just wanted to have some quiet time," I sat in an armchair. "What're you reading?"

Her blank face was filled with a bit of pink color. "J-just...a...novel."

"Yeah, but what kind?"

"…..Just don't worry about it."

"Well, can I read with you?"

She nodded and pointed to a nearby box. "Just take something out of there."

I walked towards the box and looked in to see millions of copies of the same book. I picked one up and looked at the white cover. It read in shiny red letters: _The Adventures of The Red and Green Plumbers_. "Hey, Blanc."

She peeked up from her book. "What?"

I flashed the book for her to see. "Mind if I read this?"

She instantly froze and dashed towards me. "Give me that, you ass!"

*CRACK!*

I fell to the ground the instant she punched my face. "Shit!" I clutched my throbbing cheek. "Why'd you hit me?"

She scooped up the book and held it to her chest. "This book isn't meant to be read," she handed me a copy of the book that she had been reading. "Here, just read this."

I looked at the cover and instantly frowned. "Um...is this the only other option?" I looked at her doll-like face. She nodded her head and I let out a sigh. "Alright, let's start re—"

*Bang!*

Blanc and I turned to the door to meet two little girls. The one on the left has short sandy-brown hair that touched her shoulder, pale skin and maroon blue eyes. She wears a white and light blue winter jacket with puffed sleeves and a frilled center with gold buttons. She also wears a cap similar to Blanc's except it was just a plain blue and white cap. She also wears a pink messenger bag and blue winter boots.

The girl on the right looked almost identical to her. She has long sandy-brown hair that reaches her back, pale skin and maroon blue eyes. She wears a jacket identical to the left girl's except her colors are hot pink and white and she has several puffballs dangling from her jacket, her cap's colors are pink and white. Her look-alike messenger bag is colored blue and wears a pair of pink winter boots.

These two were definitely twin sisters. The girl on the left pointed to me. "Look Ram, there's a strange man with Blanc."

The girl on the right, supposedly Ram, pouted. "That's not fair!" she flailed her arms. "How come big sis won't play with us, but rather this big dummy?!"

The girl on the left looked over at Ram. "But Ram, we were told that Miss Nepgear and her friends would be coming today."

Ram looked at her sister in surprise. "Ehhh?!" She kept jabbing her finger in my direction. "But he's a boy! Boys are totally gross, right Rom?"

The sister, Rom, gave her a puzzled look. "Huh? Why?"

"Because! That one creepy sicko that licked us was totally a dude!"

"But, he doesn't seem like that bad of a person."

Ram squinted her eyes and examined me. I was more curious about what they had meant by some guy that licked them. "…"

She stepped back. "Well, I guess he's fine."

Blanc sighed. "Why are you two here?"

"U-um, Miss Nepgear told us to get you guys to help us find her friends."

"You mean IF and Compa?"

"Yeah! Those people!"

I quickly pulled myself up and became serious. "Take me to them as fast as you can."

"Okay!" They said in unison.

I began to follow the sisters out of the room when I heard a voice coming from behind. "Hold on!" I turned around to see Blanc following us. "I'm coming too."

Rom and Ram stared at her in disbelief. "Really?!"

She gave a small nod and walked out of the room, leaving only her sisters and I standing there.

"Alright, let's go."

* * *

Nepgear, in her HDD form, set me down on the ground and materialized a blade similar to my own. "Thanks."

I watched as the others landed in their HDD forms. For some reason, not only had Blanc and I been called here, but also Vert along with the Lastation CPUs.

Blanc's HDD form didn't really change her physical body much. However, her sandy-brown hair had changed to a light blue color with messy bangs that resembled Neptune's hair, her eyes changed from blue to a pinkish-reddish color, and she wears a white bathing-suit-like, sleeveless outfit, lined by black and a faded blue. Her weapon is a giant hammer.

Rom's HDD form consists of her brown hair turning into pink, messy hair, similar to Blanc's and her eyes are now a bright blue color. She wears a white one-piece bathing suit with a pink outlining the sleeves, long white gloves and white boots, with pink lining, that connected to her suit. Ram looked practically the same except instead of pink colors, there were blue colors in it's place with the exception of a pair of bright pink eyes. Their weapons consisted each of long silver staffs.

Noire's HDD form didn't change too much either. Her black twintails had changed to long white hair that touched her shoulder blades, her eye color changed from red to turquoise, she wears a black bathing-suit-like outfit with the top chest part cut off and black gloves and boots to reach her knees. She holds a large black blade that had a black sabre-like hilt.

Uni's HDD form consisted of white(similar to Noire's color), drill-like pigtails instead of her usual black pigtails. Her red eyes have changed to a bright green color, she wears a black, bikini-like outfit(which I won't even begin to describe) and tall black boots and gloves(also her chest seems to have shrunken). Her weapon of choice is a giant black beam cannon.

Lastly, Vert's HDD changes her hair color to a leaf green and is now tied up in a braid, her blue eyes change to a light purple, she wears a white bikini-like outfit(with gray lining)that shows the under part of her "chest". She also wears knee-high white boots and gloves, while her weapon consists of a black spear with a green tip.

Neptune, also in her HDD form, looked around. "Well, it seems like we're all here."

Everyone nodded.

I looked around. "Hey," everybody turned their attention towards me. "Why are we all here if we're just here to find IF and Compa."

Noire crossed her arms. "This isn't just about finding them," she pulled out a map that showed our area and pointed at a red dot. "This is where they were last located and also where they reported finding some dangerous man."

"And?"

"And right before they could approach the man, their signal disappeared there."

I nodded. "Which means that whoever that man is probably..."

Nepgear finished my sentence. "Is extremely strong and could possibly pose a threat all of Gamindustri."

Neptune nodded. "Right."

I gulped and whispered into Nepgear's ear. "Do you think it's the cloaked man?"

"I don't know," she looked worried. "Could be."

I gripped my blade. "Then why are we just standing here? Let's go!"

And just like that, I activated Level Two and dashed towards the direction where the danger supposedly stood. I was going to save IF and Compa and stop this dangerous man.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I'm probably not going to upload tomorrow, but I'll see if I can. Anyway, I'll end the first arc on an even number and afterwards, I'll start linking both main stories together. Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

I stopped in between some trees and signaled for everybody else to also stop.

"…"

I activated the third ability of "it" and turned my left eye yellow, allowing me to see past the trees concealing us. There appeared to be nobody standing out in the location where IF and Compa had once been. I kept scanning the open area. There were millions of hidden explosives underneath the open area and a figure sitting on a tree branch on the opposite side of us, but that probably didn't matter. I looked back at the explosives and the couldn't be explosives there just because, it had to be to hide something. It also looked relatively new which meant that if the man had taken IF and Compa, they couldn't have gotten too far away.

I looked over at Neptune. "Do you by any chance have a small rock on you?"

She gave me a confused look. "Um, sure," she picked up a rock and tossed it to me. "Here."

I caught it and weighed it in my hand. This would work. I put a bit of 'red' energy into the rock and chucked it at the explosives.

"Everyone take cover!" I grabbed Nepgear and shielded her from the explosion like before.

*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*

"…"

"…"

When the explosions subsided, I looked to see what remained. Besides the giant crater and debris, there was a hole at the center of the crater that led down into the ground. "Well, how about that?"

I quickly did another scan to see if that the figure was still around. It was gone. I sighed and signaled for everybody to come out into the open. I jogged up to the hole and peered in. Past the hole was a lab filled with silver colors and colorful and bubbly test tubes. I hopped down.

*Tmp!*

I scanned around to find many rooms filled with people. But these weren't ordinary people, they were from that "group". Whoever lived here, probably came from my dimension. I shook the thought out of my head and continued to scan. On the left wing, was where the whole group of "them" were being held, the right wing seemed to contain treasures, the north wing was where a bookshelf stood, past it, the figure from earlier was located there(meaning it probably owned this place) and the south wing was where IF and Compa seemed to be held in a jail cell. I watched as the girls all floated down.

"Don't go to the left wing, some of you guard the north wing, others check the right wing or south wing," I instructed. "But don't go into the north wing until I say so, got it?"

They all nodded in unison. "Alright, then scatter!"

* * *

"So you're telling me that you two have no idea how you got here?" I scratched my chin.

We had managed to find IF and Compa, both unscathed. "No, we just saw some strange hooded guy before we blacked out," IF explained.

"Then we woke up in a scary, dark room with cobwebs and dust!" Compa shivered. Maybe she doesn't like dark places?

Nepgear sat them up and looked over them. "He didn't do anything to you two?"

IF shook her head. "I don't think so."

I looked over at the north wing's door. The door seemed to be made of stainless steel and was programmed to blend in with the bookshelf. I honestly would've missed that if I didn't have the ability to scan. I looked over at the CPUs. "Hey, guys," they averted their attention to me. "We're going to bust down this door."

Rom and Ram looked at the camouflaged door in confusion. Rom pointed at the door. "But Mr. Turtle, this is just a bookshelf, not a door."

I facepalmed. My name honestly isn't that hard to say, but hey, they were young and somewhat innocent. I pointed at the door. "The door is just programmed to blend in. Look closely."

They ran up to the door and looked at right at the door before letting out a gasp. "No way! The color is of this part is a darker" Ram exclaimed. "It really is a door!"

I sighed and looked over at the real CPUs. "You guys want to help me break down this door?"

Blanc cracked her knuckles and raised her (sledge)hammer. "I'm ready."

I looked over at Vert. She bounced her chest and gave a confident smile. "My body and I are always ready."

I glanced towards Noire. "I-I guess I'm ready." So dishonest.

And finally, Neptune. She nodded. "Ready."

I then faced the CPU Candidates. "You guys stand a bit away and you'll be backup, got it?"

"Right!" They said in chorus.

We all turned to face the door, all of our weapons ready. "…Then, here we go."

I let a bit of 'red' energy course through me. "LET'S GO!"

*BANG!*

The CPUs and I kicked the door open and rushed in. There was an office chair, with it's back facing us, at the end of the room, faintly lit by a light bulb. "…"

"Hey! Show yourself! You're pinned!" Blanc commanded.

The man's voice was strained but sounded somewhat young. It sounded familiar for some reason. "Oh? You think I'm the bad guy?"

This guy definitely wasn't the cloaked man. I questioned, "Who are you?"

"Oh? Is that you, Lu—"

"WHY DO YOU KNOW ME!" I tightened the grip on my blade. How did this guy know me? Did I know him?

"I guess you don't remember me, huh?" The man began to laugh. "I guess that's my fault."

For some reason, my body began to shake. "W-who are you?"

The man rolled his chair to make our faces meet. I dropped my weapon and collapsed onto the ground.

"Y-you're...that...guy," I was shaking uncontrollably. "Kain..."

Kain smiled. "It's good to see you after all this time, friend."

* * *

 _"Tolise! Hurry up!" The boy shouted._

 _"I'm trying, you're just going too fast!"_

 _The two boys continued to push past rubble on the cold, rainy night. The boy, called Tolise, looked behind him. He sighed a breath of relief and thought, 'Guess there really isn't anybody behind us.' He turned back to face the other boy. "Where are we going now?"_

 _"To find the—" The boy's voice was voice was cut off by the sound of thunder booming._

 _Tolise yelled back at the boy. "WHAT DID YOU SAY!?"_

 _"I SAID_ _WE ARE GOING TO KILL A SPAWN!"_

 _The second the boy said that, Tolise's blood froze. 'Another one of those,' he thought. 'Not again, we barely survived the last encounter with one…'_

" _But that's suicide!"_

" _And when you agreed to go on this journey weren't you aware of that?!" He snapped back._

" _I do know, but, why do we have to kill Spawns?"_

"…" _He stopped on top of a chunk of a rock. "Because…. We're just like them."_

"…" _I was speechless._

"… _C'mon, let's go."_

" _Can you at least tell me the Spawn's name?"_

" _His name, is—"_

* * *

"Kain…." I barely managed to get the name out of my mouth.

He wore a stained plain white T-shirt, torn khakis, a black trench coat and a pair of destroyed dress shoes. His skin was as pale as a ghost, his eyes were still piercing golden yellow color, his scar over his right eye still remained and his long green hair was still as clean as ever. Of course, he didn't age, being a Spawn.

Karin smiled at me. "I remember the last time I saw you," he looked over me while I stood in shock. "You've seemed to have gotten older, rather than keep replenishing your body like any other Spawn. Typical."

He let out a chuckle before slapping my back,like I was his son or something, and walking towards the girls and pointing a finger at me. "Do any of you know about this boy's past at all?"

They all shook their heads in silence.

Kain smiled. "Well then, how about I tell you? Let me indulge you in the story abou—"

"Stop!"

All of us turned our heads in unison to see Nepgear at the door.

Kain frowned. "Oh, another girl."

"Nepgear, what're you doing here?!"

She ignored my question and continued to speak. "You don't need to tell any of us about Tolise's past, no matter who you are!" Nepgear raised her blade. "Because he's not what he used to be and he won't let those chains bond him down ever again!"

"…" Kain looked at Nepgear with a blank expression. "Are you sure about that? What if he was what he used to be or something far better? Maybe he has a time limit on the time he has here because of these chains."

I gritted my teeth but didn't say anything.

She continued to speak. "I don't care what he was! I won't ever leave him! Not now, not tomorrow, not ever!"

Kain watched her with curiosity. "But, why?"

Nepgear tightened the grip on her blade and looked dead into Kain's eyes. "Because he helped me and I'll help him."

"…" He let out a chuckle. "You think only you can defy _me_?"

"No, she's not the only one."

He looked over at Neptune, who had joined her sister's side.

"Me too."

"Count me in."

"I guess I'm not opposed to it."

"I'm only doing this because of Noire."

"I'm going to beat you up!"

"We'll stop you!"

All the girls stood side by side at the door, facing Kain with a look of determination. But my body just quivered.

Kain looked over at me. "You girls really are foolish! Why can't you be like this boy and just give up?"

Neptune spoke up. "Because," she looked over at me. "This boy has changed us all for the better!"

All the girls nodded.

Kain stared at Neptune with a blank expression. But instantly twisted to a look of a killer. "Then, let's see how a great of a change it is." He snapped his finger.

 ***** BANG!* *CRASH!*

Thousands of Spawns crashed through the walls and surrounded them, all of them with the look of killers.

"Let's see how much this boy really means to you!" Those were the last words that escaped Kain's mouth before all the Spawns charged at the CPUs.

The thousands of Spawns charged at them.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I'm back! I couldn't write while I was vacationing because it was so busy, but I'm glad to be back home and I'm raring to make more chapters. I think I'll try to finish the first arc by the end of this week. Anyway, I'm glad to be back and I'll try to finish this arc by the week's end. So, thanks for reading once again, for staying up-to-date and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

*BANG!* *CRASH!* BOOM!* *BOOM!*

I watched in complete pessimism as my friends continued to fight the many Spawns, all using the "thing" in them.

Five knocked Nepgear onto the floor. "Gah!" The five Spawns, that looked like humans, slowly inched closer to her, kicking her blade away. "N-no..."

A dozen of them were dodging and parrying Neptune's swings. "Stop moving!" Neptune dashed towards the closest one and slashed down at one, killing it. "*huff*…*huff*…!" The rest of the Spawns came up from behind her and knocked her to the ground. Another group approached her, each of them began to kick her face. "Gh!"

Hundreds were surrounding Blanc and Vert. While Vert stabbed at the many Spawns with her spear, Blanc would cover her from behind. Even though they were holding their own, none of them were dying. A group rushed at Vert with great speed. However, her spear was faster, allowing her to extend her spear's range, strike the many Spawns and push them back. But before she could get back into a stance, several grabbed her from behind and slammed her to the ground. "What the—?!"

When Blanc rushed towards them and jumped to perform a downward strike, more Spawns tackled her and pinned her to the ground. "DAMN YOU BITCHES! LET ME GO SO I CAN KICK ALL OF YOUR CRAZY ASSES!" They began to thrash her body.

Uni, Rom and Ram were all together, fighting off the rest of the Spawns from a distance.

*BANG!* *CRASH!*

While Uni continued to shoot green beams out of her cannon at the sea of Spawns and Rom and Ram fired giant spear-headed chunks of ice at the Spawns, a group rushed them and pushed them against the wall, gripping their necks but not killing them. They struggled to do anything as more helped hold them down and moved closer.

Kain smiled with satisfaction and looked back at me. "How does it feel, boy?" He raised me up and made me look closely at the horrifying scene in front of me. "All your friends will die, but you won't do anything. Why is that?"

"…"

"No words, huh?" He dropped me back down onto the floor. "I guess you really will just let your friends die and break your promise, right? I guess I was right, you really are like your past self still, aren't you?"

"…!" Something snapped in my mind and a shadow cast over my head as I looked down towards the ground.

Kain turned his back towards me. "People say that everybody changes, but all that's changed about you is your appearance, but not your personality. That's why, you'll always remain who you really are."

"…"

"Still no words, huh? Then how about I beat some out of you?!" Kain activated his "thing", rushed at me and raised a fist towards me. "You always have been the same and can't save anybody!"

"…!" I grabbed his oncoming wrist and squeezed.

"What!" Kain tried to break from my grip.

"…"

"… What do you want!?" He raised his other fist.

I threw him over my back and slammed his head into the ground while locking him his arms behind him, pinning him to the ground. "I used to be something else..."

"…" Kain remained silent.

"When I was born, my parents had died and never gave me a name. First my dad died when I was born, then the special "genes", that a demon gave me, killed my heartless mother and her idiot shit of a stepfather. Afterwards, I had destroyed the whole city and was found by a government organization. They began to take us abandoned children and began to perform experiments on us, killng some. The ones who did live, however, were given the powers of Devils, Spawns as they were called. Eventually, we Spawns took down the organization and we all scattered.

"However, people looked at us with fear and I still didn't have a name. After some time had passed, I met this girl named Jewel and she gave me a name and taught me how to live again. But she lost her life and I became hollow once again, eventually earning me a nickname. After some time had passed, I had met another Spawn who was like me. He, unlike the rest of us, could control his "thing" and I wanted to learn. Soon, we began to bond and set out to stop more Spawns from being created. But, the goal soon changed to create a world where peace never died and always remained.

"But, he died before we could achieve our dream," the tears welled up in my eyes and I gritted my teeth. "I still remember his last words he had said to me though..."

* * *

 _The two boys gripped each others' hand._

 _"Please, don't...*hic*...don't leave me."_

 _The boy, who was laying on the ground, smirked and let out a laugh. "Heh, I thought you were better than this."_

 _The other boy, who was on top of the other, turned his face away from the other. "S...*sniff*...shut up...*hic*… Don't give me that right now...you...*sniff*...damn bastard..."_

 _The boy smiled. "I'm glad I knew you and that we met," he closed his eyes. "If our paths had been changed even a bit, we would have probably never met and came to this."_

 _"Please, don't say that."_

 _"I hope I'll meet you again, and that I'll see a world with no problems."_

 _"No...*sniff*...don't..."_

 _"Hey," he made the boy look into his eyes. "Remember what I'm about to tell you and live with these words as a final will."_

 _"Yeah...*hic*...sure."_

 _He opened his mouth and said the words that had changed how the boy saw everything._

* * *

"'Always keep your word and protect your friends, bonds and never let what happened to us, happen to the world. The people we live around are like blank canvases, how we paint them will affect future canvases and could shape the whole painting for the better or worse. Because our decisions, no matter how small, will affect everybody. Make friends with everyone you meet, but remember to hold the ones you hate even closer. Because, our chains never break with others and all the chains will always be with you, holding you back. But, if you accept them and reconnect them, the world could be rid of all of the Darkness. And I hope you'll live by this will.'"

"…"

I looked into Kain's eyes.

"Then, what do you want to do with me?"

I smiled. "Save you."

"I've always lived in an insanity. I eventually decided to find somebody who could inherit my powers and save the world from us," he stared at me for a second before smiling. "So, take my power and live by his will and mine."

"What's yours?"

"Bring peace to this dimension and live a happy life."

He grabbed my hand tightly and I felt his "thing" enter me, the power was now surging through my body, an 'orange' energy.

"I will."

He smiled one last time before his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

"…" I shut his eyes, laid him onto the ground and stood up, a shadow looming over my face.

I turned to face the army of Spawns. "Hey! You bitches!"

They all stopped their attacks on the girls and turned to face me. They still had the bloodlust look.

 _'Fly high, and let your spirit live on...'_

 **"Are you ready?"**

I began to laugh maniacally. "Are you?"

 **"Boy, you have another 'thing' in you now. Are you sure you can handle the power if we consume you?"**

"I'll manage... Plus, you two could probably cancel the Darkness."

 _ **"Who said I would work with this guy?"**_

"Well, how can I convince you?"

 _ **"Hmmm... How about you live by my previous vessel's will?"**_

"That's all? Hmph, I was going to do that anyways."

 _ **"Then, I guess I can help you..."**_

 **"Remember, you won't be conscious anymore."**

"I know. Now, let's begin!"

The girls looked at me with terrified expressions while the crimson began consuming my vision, but all I had now was determination. I smiled and looked over at them. I was going to protect them all. But I think I've made up my mind on how I was going to live a happy life.

I looked over at Nepgear, tears were in her eyes and she wore a concerned look.

I was going to save her and this time, I wasn't going to let my loved ones die.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This arc has two more chapters before it's over. This chapter reveals a lot about Tolise's past but there is also much that hasn't been revealed. Anyway, after this arc ends, there will be a slight breather in the chapters. To wrap it up though, thanks for reading and I hope to see you guys in the next chapter!**


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

 _"Look! It's that boy!"_

 _"Shh! Don't let him hear you."_

 _"Have you heard that he doesn't have a name?"_

 _"Did you hear the nickname people gave him?"_

 _"The one he got for killing all those people?"_

 _"The one where he shows his true colors?"_

 _"Yes, that nickname."_

 _"I haven't heard of it before. What is it?"_

 _"Lucifer: The Devil's Blood Boy..."_

* * *

The boy stood before the many Spawns who were surrounding him. They longed for his blood, but also for his strength. But the boy also sought their blood.

The boy's skin had changed to a burnt red, he wore half of a white mask on the left side of his face, his clothes remained the same and he now carried two blades, one made of a dark matter and the other made of a red and orange matter. The mask he wears is made up of a white liquid that clings to his skin, there are red stripes tracing from his bangs to the middle of his face, and has white shark-like teeth on the mask that cover his own. His left eye has turned into a complete piercing moon yellow color while his right eye's iris has changed to a moon yellow and his sclera has inverted to a pitch black color. He also has red tattoos that cover both of his arms and his hair, which has changed to silver, has grown out long enough to touch his shoulders.

The boy looked around and thought about how many Spawns there were. **"HAHAHAHAHA! All of you really think you can kill me?!"** The boy opened his arms as if to welcome the mob. **"Well then, give me Hell!"**

*BANG!* *CRASH!* *SK!* *SHK!* *SLASH!*

All the Spawns charged at the boy at his command. All of them clawing at his skin, stabbing at his organs, slicing up his clothes and tearing off limbs, leaving blood everywhere. When they had finished, what remained of the boy was his torn-apart abdomen, everything else had been torn to shreds. The Spawns approached the boy, ready to destroy the last part of his body. Suddenly, a golden flame engulfed the body part and slowly began to regenerate the boy's body. When the flame disappeared, the boy was perfectly back to normal, as if he hadn't been touched at all. The boy rolled his neck before looking back at the Spawns.

 **"Man, and I thought this would actually be a challenge,"** the boy formed his two blades. **"Well, hopefully you can at least bring me with pleasure with your cries."**

*SHK!* *SLASH!* *BANG!* *BOOM!* CRASH!* *SHWING!*

"GAH!"

"ARGH!"

"RAHH!"

"GRAGH!"

As the boy continued to dismember the many bodies, he was filled with a feeling of pleasure. **"CRY OUT MORE FOR ME!"**

The boy approached another wave, quickly formed a ball of 'red' and 'orange' energy, and rammed it into the wave, dematerializing all in the energy ball's area. He turned around to see only one wave left, except instead of feeling excited to kill them, he frowned. The last group was surrounding a girl with long pinkish lilac hair, each of them holding a blade against her body. **"You really do want me to kill you, don't you?"**

The Spawns glared at him with their bloodshot eyes. "You take another step forward, and the girl dies!'

 **"…"**

"Tolise, please..."

"What's it going to be?!"

The boy dropped his blades and held up his hands. **"You win, do your worst to me."**

Five Spawns nearby grabbed him from behind and stabbed his limbs to the floor, immobilizing him. They sneered. **"You guys really are gullible, you know that?"**

"What are you—Gh!"

Before the Spawns could wonder what the boy was thinking, the CPUs snuck up from behind them and chopped all of them into pieces in a matter of seconds. **"Good job girlies..."** the boy complimented before passing out.

* * *

When I woke up, I was in my room, covered in bandages and sitting on my bed. I moved my body around but found nothing that seemed badly injured. I looked over at my desk to see a note laying on the surface. I pulled myself off the bed and picked up the note.

It read: _Tolise, thank you for saving me today. I really don't know what I would have done without you, but if you hadn't saved me, I would have been really disappointed in myself. Even though I owe you enough favors, I have one more favor to ask of you. Can you meet me in the designated point tomorrow at night? I'll be waiting._

At the bottom of the paper was Nepgear's signature scrawled on it and on the back was a location to a place we had gone to together once before. "Wonder what she wants to talk about…"

And like that, I spent the rest of the day in bed, wondering what she wanted to talk about, even though I probably already knew what she wanted to talk about.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Sorry this chapter was so short, but the next chapter will be much longer because it's the end of the arc. Anyway, most of Tolise's backstory is wrapped up in this chapter and his actual self will be focused on in the next arc. Anyway, arc one will end tomorrow. But, thanks for reading once again and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

 _I sat on the porch stairs, staring at the Blue Jays on the railing. I took a deep breath to meet the smell of the rain that had just passed. I looked up to see the night sky and it's shining stars. This was honestly a weird scene. I looked over at the door behind me, still shut and "painted"._

 _I didn't exactly have anywhere to go and I wasn't wanted. I looked back up at the sky. Maybe I could start anew, forget about what had happened and form bonds with people who would accept me. Even if that was just a fantasy I was hoping for, I was willing to go find that fantasy._

 _I hopped off the porch stairs and looked out towards the world. I was going to spread my wings and fly into the unknown sky._

* * *

I decided that instead of waiting for tomorrow night to roll on by, I would go visit my friends and just do something to kill some time. In the end, I had decided to go to a lake with Neptune and Blanc. Blanc wanted to go because she liked reading in the quietness of the open and Neptune was also bored like me. We had decided to leave Blanc in her own little corner while Neptune and I just skipped some rocks to see who could get the furthest distance.

*Splosh!* *Sploosh!*

"Yeah!" Neptune jumped into the air when she saw her rock skim pass mine. "My awesome protagonist powers worked!"

I plopped down onto the dirt ground. "Yeah, yeah. You win."

"See! When you stop cheating, I'll always win!" Neptune flashed me a peace sign.

I smiled at her and looked over at where Neptune's rock had sunk. It had managed to reach the other side of the lake while mine had only reached three fourths of the way there. "Like I told you before, I wasn't cheating, I was just better than you."

She smiled triumphantly. "Exactly! You _were_ better than me! Now I can reclaim my crown as the main character!"

I laid down onto the dirt and let the sun's ray envelop me. "Have it your way, but we all know that I'm more fit to be the main character than you."

She chuckled. "Yeah right! I have all my secret fans with me and my name is literally in the title."

"Yeah, but I'm the OC here, so I'm much better than you!"

"No, I am!"

"No, I'm better!"

"No, me!"

"Me!"

ME!"

Our faces were literally inches apart, eyes locked in an intense glare. "…"

"…"

I sighed and broke the gaze. "You know what? Fine, you can be more important than me. Happy?"

Neptune grinned. "I knew you would succumb to my cuteness!"

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever..."

Neptune plopped down onto the dirt next to me, letting out a sigh. "Hey, Tolise?"

I looked over at Neptune. She wore one of her rare serious faces. "Yeah, what's up?"

She looked down at the ground and started to trace the dirt. "Do you know what's wrong with Nep Jr.?"

I gave her a confused look. "What do you mean? I didn't even know that something was wrong with her."

"She... she's been acting strange lately."

"What do you mean?"

"Ever since we got back, she's been spending time under her sheets, talking to herself. Whenever I ask what she's been doing, she just says she's tired, even though she gets way more sleep than I do. And to add onto that, she's been writing in that book of hers way more now and she even put a lock on it," tears began to well up in the corner of Neptune's eyes."I just don't know what to do."

She buried her face in my chest and sobbed quietly. "I just want...*hic*….to be her big...*sniff*...sister."

"How about I try talking to her?"

She shook her head. "Everytime I talk about you, she seems to not want to talk about it anymore. *sniff*… I just don't know what to do. Do you know what's wrong with her?" Oh boy, do I.

I nodded. "I think I might know."

"*sniff*… Really?"

"Do you promise you won't get mad at me when I tell you?"

She wiped the tears from her face with her sleeve. "Huh? Sure. Why would I get mad at you?'

"Because," I leaned in close to whisper into her ear. "I think your sister is in love."

"NEPU!"

*CRACK!*

And as I told Neptune, she smacked me over the head with her wooden sword and I passed out.

* * *

"W...what?" I cracked open my eyes only to shut them after seeing the blinding sun. "What the?"

I slowly opened my eyes again to see the giant orange ball of gas shining it's rays towards me. It was now evening. I looked around to see Neptune sitting to my right with her back facing me, looking out at the shimmering lake with a shadow casted over her.

I reached out towards her. "Neptune?"

"Don't worry about me, I just..." she cut herself off. "I just need some time to think about this thing about Nepgear..."

"Aren't you happy that she's in love?"

She shook her head. "Whoever she loves, it seems to be driving her crazy, like she becomes a completely different person when she thinks about this person. I'm suppose to be her older sister and I'm suppose to protect her. But I don't know how to help her, but I want her to be happy and I want her to always be my cute, adorable little sister."

"…"

"Tolise, I don't know what to do! What if this person is somebody that ends up destroying her or ends up using her?! I can't protect her from something I don't know what I'm fighting against!"

"…"

She turned back to face me. Tears were streaming down her face. And her eyes were red and puffy. "I feel completely helpless and it feels like she's walking down a path that I can't help guide her down. I promised that I would never leave her again, but it feels like this whole love thing is pulling us further and further apart and I feel like she'll eventually become a distant memory! Tolise, please! Help me!"

I pulled her into a hug and patted her head. "...*hic*...Tolise?"

"It's alright. I'll fix this."

"But...*sniff*...how?"

"She told me that I should meet her somewhere tomorrow night and that she'd be waiting."

"If she is waiting...then, what will you do?"

"I'll go to meet her and fix your problem."

"Thank you, Tolise."

I sighed. "Man, seeing you sad is so weird."

She puffed out her cheeks. "T-that's... I was sad, okay!? Weren't you ever taught to respect girls?"

"I'm kidding!" I rustled her hair. "How about I go buy you some pudding to cheer you up?"

Her eyes began to sparkle. "Really?! Alright, then I'll buy the best type of pudding I can!"

I pulled her up along with me. "Alright, but first, let's go pick up Blanc."

"Alright!"

* * *

We had found Blanc back at where we had left her, reading another book. "Um, Blanc?"

She peeked up at us. "Yes?"

"It's time to go."

She sighed and closed her book. "Where are you two going?"

"We're going to get some pudding, do you want to come?" I asked.

Blanc stood up then patted the dirt and grass off her. "Alright, I'll come."

Neptune grabbed us and began to drag us back to Planeptune. "Alright, then let's go!"

* * *

It was dusk by the time we got back to Planeptune and we couldn't find an open pudding shop. So, we settled for a noodle shop. I had gotten a bowl of ramen noodles with pork broth, Neptune ordered a bowl with every type of condiment and meat mixed into her's and Blanc just ordered a plain bowl of noodles with chicken broth.

We sat down at a table booth in the shop. "So," I looked over at the doll-faced Blanc who was quietly slurping her noodles. "How was your day?"

She finished slurping her noodles before answering me. "What kind of a question is that?"

"*SLURP!*….. I'm just wondering how you're doing? Like, after the we defeated all those Spawns or are you hurt?"

Blanc narrowed her eyes and glared at me. "Are you trying to interview me?"

I shook my hands and waved my hands. "No! Again, I'm just wondering how your day was."

Neptune finally spoke up. "*SLUURRP!*…. Pah! C'mon Blanc, get that hammer out of your pipe and loosen up! He just wants to know how you've been! At least say 'Howdy' or something!"

I wiped some broth off of Neptune's mouth before Blanc spoke up. "Alright, I'll be nice," she sucked in a fresh breath of air and put on the most cheerful face she could muster. "I've been swell, you two cuties! These books are so fun to read and it's been a sunny day and that makes me feel all warm inside!" Blanc said in a cheerful tone.

"…"

"…"

Neptune and I both dropped our jaws and stopped eating.

Blanc let out a sigh and looked at us in curiosity. "What's wrong? Didn't you say to be happier?"

"Yeah, but you did a complete one-eighty! It's like you turned from that red fish monster to that giant blue water dragon snake thing!"

She shrugged and returned to eating her noodles.

I looked over at Neptune, who was watching Blanc with squinted eyes. "Mmmm..."

I shrugged it off and continued to slurp on my own noodles. "*SLUURRP!*….. Hah..."

"Hey, Tolise."

I looked back up at Blanc as I finished my noodles. "Yeah?"

"When we were fighting those 'things' back there..."

"Spawns, they're called Spawns," I corrected her.

"When we were fighting those Spawns, you said something about having Devils sealed inside them and that you were one of them. What did you mean by that?"

I shrugged. "When I was young, the government sealed a Devil in me, I became a Spawn and I couldn't control it. I eventually met another Spawn who taught me how to control it. That's about the gist of it."

"But...is it still in you?"

I let out a chuckle. "Yeah, it is. But what's even more crazy about that is that I now have another one inside of me now."

"*SPOOT!* WHAT!?" Neptune spit out her broth and looked over at me. "You told me that you only had one in you!"

I wiggled a finger at her. "See, I _told_ you. That was back then. After that man died, I absorbed his Devil and had another Devil sealed in me."

"Woah! That's so rad, bro!"

"Isn't it hard to control both of them?"

I shook my head. "No, I learned to control my first so well that the other is hardly a challenge to control."

They both nodded in understanding. "That's so cool," Neptune complimented. "Does that mean that you'll be getting cool red eyes now or get some awesome demonic transformation when you lose control?"

"I just told you that I already have full control over both of them."

"Aww~! That ruins the awesome demon-power plot where the guy slowly loses control."

"Well, sorry. I don't have those types of Devils in me."

"Man, that's boring"

"Well, I guess I live to disappoint."

* * *

"We're home!"

"Safehouse reached!"

We walked into the living room area to find Histoire sitting on the couch while IF and Compa were playing some card game. They all turned to face us once we walked in.

"Oh! Welcome home, Nep-Nep!" Compa welcomed Neptune home with open arms.

"Yay! My lovely Compa! Neptune embraced Compa in a tight hug.

IF and Histoire turned their attention away from the two girls and towards me. "How was your day?" asked IF.

I sat down on the couch beside Histoire. "It was fine. All we did was hang out."

Histoire nodded. "So everybody now knows about you and your past?"

I nodded. "For the most part."

"I see..."

"Hey, Histy," Neptune appeared out of nowhere. "How's Nep Jr.?"

Histoire frowned. "She's secluded herself to her room and won't come out unless it's to eat."

"I see..."

Neptune let out a yawn. "Well, I'm closing shop for tonight. Good night, Tolise!"

"Night."

I walked back into my room, took a quick shower and hopped onto my bed. I let out a yawn and closed my eyes. I wondered what would happen tomorrow night...

* * *

When the next day rolled around, I was just staring blankly up at the ceiling. All I could think about was tonight with my meeting with Nepgear. What could she possibly want to speak to me about? I at least knew whatever it was, it was tearing at Neptune's feelings. I sat up on the bed. I hope I could fix Neptune's relationship with her sister.

When I got out to the dining room, I found everybody there except Nepgear. That was strange considering she was always here to eat and would sometimes come early to cook. Instead, Compa had made pancakes for all of us. Even though they tasted good, my mind was off thinking about Nepgear rather than the pancakes' delicious taste. I sighed as I finished my serving.

Histoire gave me a concerned look. "What's wrong? Is the Darkness acting up again?' she whispered to me.

I shook my head. "No, I'm just worried about Nepgear."

She nodded. "Yes, as am I. I hope you can help her. She's been rather quiet lately."

"Don't worry, I will fix this."

Histoire smiled. "I do hope so..."

* * *

I took a deep breath and looked up at the night sky. This was it. I looked towards the opening in front of me. Past that, was a girl standing there. A girl who I had saved many of times and made many promises to. Whatever she wanted to talk about, it must have been awfully important.

"Well, here goes nothing." I walked through the opening and was instantly met by the back of a girl.

"…"

"…" We just stood there in an awkward silence as the tides swayed.

"Tolise?" Nepgear finally spoke.

"Y-yeah?"

"How do you see me?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"How do you feel about me?"

It was such a sudden and random question that I hadn't been expecting to answer. To be honest, I had just been hoping to talk with Nepgear and hear what she wanted to say.

"Um... I mean, you're a great person. You're responsible, nice, helpful and you're fun to be around."

Still not facing me, she continued to speak. "Go on..."

"Sometimes you get a bit pessimistic but it can easily be fixed, you're a great friend and I think your actually kind of cute," I slowly approached her. "Anything else you want to hear?"

She shook her head. "No," she finally spun around to face me. "I think I've finally come to an answer."

"Answer to what?"

"Th-that's..." Nepgear took a step towards me, making our bodies inches apart. "How...I feel...about you."

I could feel her warmth and her breaths. Was this really going where I thought it was going? "Well, how do you feel about me?"

Her cheeks quickly turned pink and she looked down. "U-um, I..."

I smiled at her. Maybe I am right. Might as well go for it. "Hey, Nepgear."

She looked back up at me. "Huh? What's—mmn!"

I pressed my lips against her's and pulled her in even closer. I felt a warm and soft sensation when I pressed my lips against her's. Although I had closed my eyes, I opened them to find Nepgear's open, shocked eyes. I slowly pulled away to let her process the kiss. Honestly, it was my first too, so I was pretty surprised that I had managed to pull that off. It was weird. I could fight off millions of Devils and take hatred, but I was afraid of kissing a girl. Our brains really were wired strangely.

Her cheeks were flushed red and she touched the part where she had been kissed. "T-Tolise..."

"I'm sorry, I guess I was being stupid, huh?"

She took a hold of my hand. "No, it wasn't stupid... Um, can we do it again?"

"Uh... S-sure."

This time she pulled me close to her and gently pressed her lips against mine. "Mmm... ah...mm."

She kept pecking at my lips. Although they were light and shy, I knew she was enjoying it and wanted more.

After a few more pecks, she separated, gasping for air. "Haaa...fuah..."

"Hey, Nepgear."

"Yeah?" she looked up at me with eyes of lust. Lust for my lips.

"I love you," that was the last thing I said before engaging in our embrace once again.

"Mmm...*smack*...Tolise I...haa...mm...I love you too...mm *smack*…fuaah..."

After what felt like an eternity, we separated but stayed in a tight hug. "Tolise."

I could feel her hot breaths. "Yeah?" I whispered into her ear.

She smiled at me and nuzzled her cheek against my clothes. "I really do love you."

I stroked her hair. "I love you too."

Her grin grew even wider and she let out a giggle. "Hehehe..."

I smiled back at her. "Hey, what was that favor you wanted to ask of?"

"My favor," she looked up at my eyes. "Promise me that you won't ever leave me alone ever again."

"I promise, no matter what."

"… Thank you."

Those were the last words we uttered before embracing each other in a tight hug.

I finally felt that I could find happiness and live by the wills I'd been given.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This is the end of the first arc! This ending is probably the ending you've all been longing for and I hope you're happy. Just to let you know, I'm not exactly the best at writing these romance scenes, but I just write what I enjoy to read. By the way, I'm sorry that this chapter came out so late, work and school really does take up your time. But, that's the end of the first arc and we'll begin the second arc. Thank you all for reading thirty chapters of my first Fanfic and I hope you'll continue to read this. If you guys have any ideas to submit, just leave it in the reviews section or PM me. But anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

"Zzzzz...Tolise...zzz..."

"…" I smiled while Nepgear slept peacefully.

"Mmm..." she continued to nuzzle my chest while holding me in a tight embrace. Her body was so soft.

I played around with her hair. She was so adorable.

I guess Nepgear had just developed feelings for me and I didn't even realize it. Man, I really was like every single anime protagonist; stupid when it came to love but a badass at everything else. But this wasn't something too serious of a relationship yet, so hopefully Neptune wouldn't freak out when she found out about us tomorrow morning. At least it wasn't some random stranger that Nepgear loved, because if it was, Neptune would always be worrying and I would have probably been extremely jealous.

After Nepgear and I had confessed to each other, we had decided to go back to my room and "play around" with each other. Yeah, it probably wasn't the best thing to do, but at the time we were in "the moment". Now, we were sleeping together in my bed.

I honestly never thought this would happen to me. I never expected I'd fall in love nor did I expect to have such a beautiful girlfriend. It might be a bit too early to make promises or just calling her my girlfriend. But I did feel like I did love her and I didn't want to lose her. I caressed her cheek and returned her embrace. I whispered, "Nepgear, I love you..." I gave her a peck on her forehead and drifted off to sleep with her.

* * *

I felt somebody lightly shake my shoulder and heard somebody whisper into my ear. "Tolise, it's time to wake up~"

"Mmghmm...five more minutes..."

The voice sighed. "C'mon Tolise," I felt a hand begin to slowly stroke my back. "If you don't wake up, I won't give you a kiss~"

"Mmghm...Nepgear?" I slowly opened my eyes and faced the direction of the one touching me. It was Nepgear, standing by my bedside.

Her hair was wet and she had a towel tightly covering her bare, wet body. She smiled at me. "Good morning!"

I felt so happy when I saw her smile. If that could be what I woke up to, I would always wake up on time. I smiled at her and caressed her cheek. "Good morning, Nepgear."

"How are you feeling?"

"I feel great seeing your adorable face," I poked at her cheek.

Her cheeks became flushed. "T-thank you... I don't know what to say."

"How about you give me that kiss you promised me?"

She giggled. "Hehehe. I was just trying to get you to wake up."

"Hey, don't be like that," I grabbed her by her arms and pulled her onto the bed.

"Hey!"

"C'mon! If you don't give me a kiss, I'll just have to tickle you again~"

"What the goodness?! That's not fair!" She flailed her body.

I began by attacking her feet because they were one of the only exposed areas.

"H-hey! S-stop!...mmgm…" I watched as she squirmed, trying to hold in her laugh. The Déjà vu is real.

I continued to tease her. "It's just a kiss," I increased the pace of the tickling. "Or do you want to be tickled?"

"Ughh…..mm….." she squirmed for a bit longer before tackling me and pinning me to my bed. I had to admit, even if she didn't look it, she was definitely strong like her sister. I guess appearances weren't everything.

She pulled me in close and our lips met.

"Mm….ah…*smack*…..mmn," I continued to exchange kisses with Nepgear. We both longed for more.

"Mmn….*smack*…..fuah…" she pulled away breathing heavily. She readjusted the towel so it wouldn't show her naked body and tightened it. "Are you happy yet?" Nepgear asked with a slight blush.

I smiled at her. "I was already happy when I saw you," I caressed her cheek and pulled her into a hug. "But you just made my day. What about you?"

Nepgear squeezed me and smiled back. "I'm happy with you too!"

"Alright, then how about we go change and announce this?"

She began to play with her fingers. "I don't know... How do you think Neptune will react?"

I patted her head. "It'll be fine. We'll manage," I pulled away and went to take a shower. "Somehow…"

* * *

"So," I looked over at Nepgear. "We're dating now, I guess."

Neptune nodded. "Okay… I se—WHAATT!" Neptune fell off her chair the second she processed what I said.

Histoire just smiled a bit. "Congratulations, you two!"

IF and Compa also smiled. "Congratulations!"

As Nepgear talked with Histoire, IF and Compa, I helped Neptune off the floor. "Hey, are you okay?"

She rubbed her head. "Yeah, but you're saying that Nepgear loved you?" she asked.

I nodded.

She smiled a bit. "Well, at least your not some stranger," Thanks Neptune. "I'll take a tentacle monster over some weirdo any day!" And there goes my spirits.

"So you're cool with this?"

She shrugged. "As long as it's you. I trust you, so I entrust you with my junior self."

"Thanks Neptune."

"Actually, I have one condition."

"What is it?"

"You have to buy me as much pudding as you can!"

"You're joking, right?"

She shook her head. "Nope! After breakfast, you're going with me to the pudding store and you're going to buy me all the pudding you can buy!"

I sighed. I knew I couldn't fight it. "Alright."

When we had finished breakfast, I was about ready to go with Neptune, but Nepgear asked where we were going. "We're going to go buy more pudding!"

"Okay," she nodded and averted her gaze.

"Hey," I pulled her into a tight hug and looked at her. "We'll be back, don't worry."

She nodded. "Okay..."

Neptune stuck out her tongue. "Bleh! I'm not good around romance. I'm kinda just awkwardly standing here."

I let go of Nepgear and looked over at Neptune. "I'm sorry," I clicked open the door. "Let's go."

"Goodbye," Nepgear waved us a goodbye and we left for the city.

* * *

"So, Tolise," I gave Neptune my attention.

"Yeah?"

"What did you do with my sister last night?" She gave me a suspicious glance.

I didn't want to tell Neptune, but I did feel like I could trust her. "We...um...we played around...in bed," I was honestly worried about what Neptune would do to me.

"You two had coitu—mmgh!" I covered her mouth before she could finish saying the last word. We were in the middle of a street filled with people, so that would really sound bad if she had said that aloud. "Mmggmm! Mghmf...mphf...mffff..." I continued to cover her mouth as we walked and she threw punches at me.

"Hey! Quit," I stopped walking. "Look, if you drop this subject, I'll let go of your mouth. Deal?"

She nodded and I let go of her mouth. "Pah!" She gasped her air.

"There, now will you stop talking about my love affairs?"

"But it's so weird! I know you, and I love my little sister!" Neptune grinned. "By the way, did you like me using 'that' word instead of saying something else?"

I shook my head and speak quietly. "No, even if you say coitus, that still means sex."

"But it's a fancy-sounding word! That means I'm smart, right?"

"No. Look, just drop the topic, alright?"

Neptune let out a groan. "Fiiinnne! Gosh dad!"

* * *

After Neptune had cleaned my wallet of all it's Credits, we were given a ride back home in a truck. Why a truck? Well, let's just say that Neptune really cleaned out the store today, thus, we had to store it all in a truck and couldn't just simply carry it home. I was pretty happy though. Even though I would have to carry each crate up the basilicom, it was much better than carrying each and every single crate miles back.

While Neptune was peering out the window, I looked over at the guy driving us. He had a large build, his tanned-skinned face was painted with many stains, a bushy beard, a pair of aqua blue eyes and a trucker hat covering his bald spot, plus he was very hairy. He wore a red and black checkered flannel, a pair of worn-out blue overalls on top and a pair of wooden boots. I felt like I knew him from somewhere...

He glanced over at me. "What's up kid? There something on my face?"

I shook my head. "No, I just felt like we've crossed paths before."

"Heh, boy I've been through Hell in my life. If you knew what I really was, then you'd shit your pants," he slapped his knee and began to laugh aloud. I bet I know what you are.

I smiled and put my hand on his shoulder. "You're a Spawn, aren't you?"

The trucker's eyes widened but he kept driving. "H-how do you know that?"

"Easy, because I am one."

He glanced back over at me again. "You mean...that there were others who escaped those damned labs?"

I nodded. "Yeah, and until now I thought I was the only one here."

"How'd you end up here?"

I shrugged. "I just woke up here one day after passing out."

"Are you Lucifer? Y'know, the boy back at our dimension that killed all those hateful critters?"

"Yeah, but I don't go by that name anymore."

"I see... Then what should I call you instead?"

"Tolise."

"Alright, Tolise, good to meet you," he extended a hand out to me.

I shook it. "And you are?"

"Name's Rick. I escaped and eventually found myself in a military base. They had confined me there, so I learned how to control my Devil, escaped and soon, they were chasing after me. Eventually, they had thrown some console at me, I was knocked out and I woke up here."

I let out a laugh. "That's the dumbest way I've heard of getting here."

Rick grinned. "May be dumb, but I've lived a peaceful life here and allowed my body to develop. Now I have a wife and kids," he stopped the truck at the basilicom and looked over at me. "I hope you can live that life too."

"Thanks," I looked out the window. "Mind if I call you if anything exciting happens?"

"Boy, I've been hoping for something exciting to happen for quite some time now. So give me a call if you need any help." Rick scrawled down his number on a piece of paper and gave it to me.

"Thanks," he only nodded and tipped his cap.

I shoved the piece of paper into my pocket. "Now to move all that pudding..."

* * *

I dropped the last crate onto the kitchen countertop. "All done," I went and sat by Nepgear on the couch and snuggled with her. She began to play with my hand. "See, I told you I'd come back."

She smiled. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have doubted you."

"You don't have to apologize for that."

"I don't know. I just feel blamed."

I rustled her hair. "You're not to blame. You're a very caring girl and I'm grateful to you."

She smiled and a bit of color entered her cheeks. "Hehehe. You're being too kind."

I poked at her forehead. "And you're being too humble."

As we continued to play with each other, Neptune happily ate her pudding. "Pudding~! Pudding~! Pudding~!"

I looked over at Nepgear. "Hey Nepgear."

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"I love you too..."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Another chapter! I'm trying to make these chapters longer because I want to give you guys more to read. Anyway, thanks to _Leo_ for suggesting that idea. I might end up using that, but I something planned for the other dimensions before. But I'll think about it. But let's wrap this up. Thanks for reading once again and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 32

"Hmmm..." I kept scanning the many shelves of.

A lady came up to Nepgear and I. "May I help you two?"

I turned my attention to her. "Yeah," I pointed my thumb back towards the rows of cell phones. "I need a phone, but I don't know what to get. They're all too...um...they all have way too many useless features."

She nodded. "I understand. Follow me then," she began to walk off towards the back of the store.

If you couldn't tell, Nepgear and I were shopping for a cell phone. Ever since I had that conversation with Rick, I realized I never had a phone. So, we were out shopping for a phone today.

We were led to a room that was filled shelf after shelf with phones of many colors. The woman scanned a shelf for a second, picked out a certain one and handed it to me. "How about this one?"

I examined the phone. It was the size of a small bible, it was painted a sleek silver color, had a touch screen and only had five buttons on the bottom front. The five buttons didn't seem to have a labeling though. One was black, the next one was red, another was green, there was also one that was gold, and the last one was a white color that was barely visible. It seemed like a pretty simple phone to use. I looked back up at the woman. "How's it work?"

She cleared her throat. "The buttons there control the whole phone. The touch screen is responsive to certain modes of the phone. It depends on which button you're using," she pointed at the black button. "The black button allows you to simply make calls on it, nothing special. The red button is used to show a map of Gamindustri and provide a GPS with navigation if needed, and the green button is used to take pictures."

I nodded in understanding while I tested the buttons.

"However, the white and gold buttons are different," She pointed at the gold button. "The gold button allows you to look up the profile of whoever you take a picture of. It can tell you as much information about a person as you want. I suggest you be careful with it." She wagged her finger.

I nodded and looked at the last button. "And the white button?"

"The white button is the most dangerous one. You can type in a request on it and the request will be answered with no question. Any request for any person."

That's strange. "Do you know who's answering these requests or who's sending the information?"

She shook her head. "I don't. But I do know that whoever is answering these requests, can see you."

"I see," I turned the phone around to find just the shining silver color. "How much is it?"

"Fifteen hundred Credits," I nodded and pulled out my wallet.

* * *

We had just gotten home and were sitting in the living room trying out the recently-purchased phone.

"Wow..." Nepgear held my phone in amazement. "Who do you think is watching us?"

I shrugged. "Beats me," she handed the phone back to me. "But maybe we'll figure out if we ask."

I pushed the white button and a blue screen popped up with a keyboard. There was also one line typed. It read:

 **What is your request?**

I typed back:

 **Tell me who you are.**

It replied:

 **I am your messenger. Nothing more. Nothing less.**

I sighed and decided to give up. It was probably just going to keep avoiding my question. I decided to try something else. I pressed the green button and pointed the camera at Nepgear. "Hey, Nepgear."

"Hm?" she turned away from the TV and towards me.

*Click!*

"Huh? Goodness, did you just take a picture of me," she held her hands to her cheeks as they reddened. "That's embarrassing."

I patted her head. "I just want to try out something."

I hit the gold button and a second later, there was a text box showing all her information. ALL of it. I didn't even know half of this stuff. But there were some funny nicknames thrown in. "Hey Nepgear."

"Yes?"

"Do you know what one of your nicknames is?"

"What?"

"The Boring Lead Protagonist."

"Ugghh..." she slumped over and began pouting. "That's mean, Tolise."

I pulled her into a hug. "I'm kidding," I offered the phone to her. "Do you want to read about yourself? That was the only thing I read."

She silently nodded and took the phone from me. "…"

While she read, I thought about the conversation I that I had gotten in yesterday. If there really were possibly other Spawns in this dimension, then that probably meant that the cloaked man got here somehow too. Usually, that meant that if there was a way in, there was a way out. So maybe more Spawns could come here.

She handed me back my phone with her whole face bright red and covered her face with her hands. "Ugghh..."

I spent the rest of the morning comforting her.

* * *

While Neptune and Nepgear were watching TV, I was finishing up a game of checkers with IF.

"There," I moved my piece over her remaining four pieces and kinged my piece. "I win."

She sighed and rested her head on her hands while I cleaned up the board. "Man, you're too good at this game."

I shrugged and set the board onto the coffee table. "I had always played board games when I was given the chance to."

"I bet," she got up and started to stretch. "Wanna go again?"

I shook my head. "Nah. I'd rather go to my room."

She nodded. "Alright."

I headed back to my room and decided to ask the messenger a few questions.

 **Do you know who I am?**

 **Tolise/Lucifer**

 **Do you know the cloaked man?**

 **Somewhat.**

 **What do you know about him?**

 **Not much. I only know he's a Spawn and that he's from your dimension.**

 **Thanks.**

I turned off my phone, set it on my table and flopped onto my bed. Well, at least I learned something about the cloaked man. But I really didn't care about that right now. I just wanted to get some rest on my bed. I laid my head onto the pillow and closed my eyes. It felt so weird not feeling Nepgear's warmth. I'm not saying I wanted to do "that" with her, but I did want to be with her right now.

I smiled. We had just started dating and I already couldn't live without her. I guess I did love her. Suddenly, an idea formed in my mind. I still had yet to go on an official date with Nepgear. I thought for a second. We had already conquered two big relationship goals before we had even gone on a date, so we probably needed to go on that date pretty soon.

I rolled off my bed, grabbed my phone again and pressed the red button causing a holographic map to pop out of the screen showing Gamindustri. I looked at the screen to see a 'places to go' tab. I tapped it and a suggestion of different types of places appeared onto the screen. I tapped on the one that said 'dating' and a bunch of red dots appeared on the map. I tapped a few dots in Planeptune. Laser shows and movies there. Lastation also had movies and places for comfort food. Leanbox had concerts and lots of parks, surprisingly. But Lowee had amusement parks and lots of fun places for kids. I always had a bit of a child side in me and I did like the snow, so I decided to choose Lowee.

I searched through the many amusement parks, restaurants, hotels and toy stores(don't ask) until I found the ones I liked. I saved them and requested for the messenger to help me out with something. I'm just glad it didn't make me pay because Neptune was already draining me of my Credits. I had scheduled the date to be in a month for the reason that I really didn't want to rush anything and I had to prepare myself mentally. Again, it really was strange. Monsters and facing danger was easy for me, but I was nervous about dates and just general romance. I really was turning out to be like every single anime protagonist. But whoever this messenger guy was, it was clearly somebody knowledgeable and someone who had sources if he could find out so much information and could pull off all these favors. I shook the thoughts out of my head. I probably shouldn't be thinking about this right now, after all, I just came in my room to relax. So, I set the phone back onto the table and decided to take a nice, long nap...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This will be the last filler chapter and the main story shall begin tomorrow, and yes, Tolise's date is part of the main story. Anyway, I have decided to put _Leo_ 's idea into the story, but only after the second arc. The third and fourth arcs will focus on Tolise's adventure's in the other dimensions and the last arc will be the most story-filled arc. But until then, thanks for reading once again and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**

 **P.S. _Leo_ , it is a TolisexNepgear story, but the other girls will still be trying to woo him, just because.**


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

 _I was surrounded by an orange void. This was probably my other Devil talking to me._

 _ **"Well, we meet at last, Devil Boy."**_ _It's voice was echoey._

 _Standing in front of me was an orange wisp that was a darker shade than the void._

 _"I guess the same goes to you, Sir Devil."_

 _ **"Who are you anyway?"**_

 _"I'm Tolise, or Lucifer. I'm your new vessel."_

 _ **"No, who are you really? Past the fake name and nickname, what's your REAL name?"**_

 _"…"_

 _It was true that the name 'Tolise' wasn't actually my real name. It was actually "his" name. But the reason I used it was because I wanted to carry on his legacy and never forget about him. He, after all, had changed my life. I never really had a name. Even though I was given a real name by Jewel, the girl who was the first to care about me, I never used that name. I just hung on to it._

 _ **"What's wrong? Don't want to say?"**_

 _I shook my head. "Sorry, I just don't want to think about it."_

 _ **"It's fine. I understand. But can you tell me why at least?"**_

 _"It's...personal."_

 _ **"I see..."**_ _The Devil took the form of a human, walked up to me and put a hand on my shoulder._ _ **"Then, I'll await your answer. But what will you do about the Darkness in you?"**_

 _"I... I haven't really thought about it," I cleared my throat. "I thought I'd only have to really deal with it when 'that' happened._

 _ **"That may be true, but you'll still have to face it eventually. Why not do it sooner than later?"**_

 _I looked away from the Devil. "I don't think I can win."_

 _ **"Heh, sure you can. You have two Devils inside of you and a group of strong, reliable friends. What's there to stop you?"**_

 _"My will..."_

 _ **"Are you still worrying about that? Look, the past is the past. You can't change it. But you can make a brighter future."**_

 _I shook my head. "It's not just that. It's that I know the Darkness can exploit my weaknesses and use the things I love against me."_

 _The light began to cover my vision._

 _ **"You'll figure it out..."**_

* * *

When I woke up, I found that it was the middle of the night and that it was strangely quiet. I rolled off my bed and opened the door. I peered out to see nobody and walked to the living room. IF and Compa weren't around but Histoire was in the kitchen with Nepgear.

"Yo."

They turned to face me. "Hello," Histoire waved at me. "How was your rest?"

I shrugged. "It was fine. Where's Neptune?"

Nepgear poured tea into a pot. "Sis is in her room playing with the other CPUs," she walked towards their room and I followed her.

I opened the door to find Neptune, Noire, Blanc and Vert all sitting in front of a TV with Neptune's game console hooked up to it. First of all, I was pretty sure that TV had been the one in the living room. Secondly, why was her console in her room? Lastly, why were the other nation's CPUs in here? I understood they wanted to play, but why were they ALL here together?

Neptune pushed her controller away from her. "Aw nuts!"

The other CPUs smiled in satisfaction. "Alright, Neptune's out of the game. So, I'm going to win now," Noire smiled confidently.

Blanc cast a glare at her. "What the hell are you talking about? I'm gonna win, you jackasses!"

Vert bounced up a bit to emphasize her body. "Come on now. We all know the most mature ones always wins and clearly, I'm the most mature."

"No! That's not fair! You guys all attacked me! That's totally unfairsies!"

"It's in the rulebook, so it's fair game," responded Blanc. "Don't worry, I'll win for you."

Nepgear set the pot of tea on the yellow table and we sat down together on the chairs, watching them play.

"Whatever! Next round, I'm gonna beat you guys so badly, it'll almost be hacks!"

Noire tisked. "As if we'll let you."

Neptune picked her controller back up and they began to play again. "I'm bettin' on my pancakes that I'll win this time!"

They mashed on their controllers while Nepgear and I poured tea into six pink tea cups. I looked at the TV. They appeared to be playing some fighting game that was about robots. Neptune was playing as a purple robot, while Noire was playing as the black one, Blanc was controlling the white and Vert was using the green robot.

After I had finished pouring tea, I started to head out of the room but something caught my sleeve. I spun around to see Nepgear giving me a worried look.

"W-where are you going?"

I rested my hand on her's. "I going to go do some more quests. I gotta stay in shape."

She nodded. "Then, can I come with you?"

"…" I thought for a moment. Having Nepgear would certainly help out with doing quests, however I didn't want to jeopardize her safety. I sighed. I wasn't one of those guys who didn't give others freedom and I wanted her to be where she felt happy also. "Fine, you can come."

"Yay!" She leaped into my arms and hugged me tightly.

"But the second you're in danger, I want you to run away to somewhere safe. Got it?"

She nodded.

"Alright," I pulled her out of the room with me. "Then let's go do some quests!"

* * *

We were walking through the streets of Planeptune, heading towards the Guild to accept some quests. While I walked Nepgear linked her arm with mine and stayed close to me. I smiled at her.

"Aren't you clingy?"

"Hehehe," she tapped me on my nose. "I just love you that much!"

I felt my cheeks reddened but continued to smile. "Well, at least you're a sweet girl," I poked at her cheek.

Her face also became flushed. "I'm happy you're my boyfriend though. You're a nice and selfless person."

I frowned a bit. "Well, that's what I try to be now. That's not who I used to be."

She shook her head and kissed my cheek. The warm and soft sensation still was a bliss. "Don't say that. I don't care about what you used to be. I care about you right now. So please don't worry about that type of stuff."

I chuckled. "I could say the same about you. You're so pessimistic sometimes and you over apologize way too much."

She pouted. "I'm sorry! I just can't help it and I feel sorry for others."

I teased her. "See! You did it again!"

"Ughh..."

I laughed aloud. "I'm just kidding. Don't be like that!"

She playfully punched my shoulder. "You're so mean."

"And you're my lovely girlfriend who I love so much," I kissed her forehead.

"Hehehe. Praise me more!" She looked at me with eyes of expectation.

I sighed and rustled her hair. "You're smart, responsible, pretty and—wait a minute!"

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"I've already said this! So why do you want to say it again?"

She pouted even more and her face reddened again. "Because it makes me happy when I hear you say it. Please..." She looked at me with a look of innocence. Damnit human emotions.

We rounded the corner and I noticed the Guild close by.

I turned back to face Nepgear. "Fine. I find you beautiful, you're adorable and a sweet girl."

She beamed me a smile. "Yay! See, that wasn't that hard to say, was it?"

I shook my head. "No, but you do seem to love attention."

"It's better than not being paid attention to."

"That's true," I caressed her cheek and we walked into the Guild.

We approached the holographic board that showed the quests and began looking through the quests. "Hmmm..." I scratched my chin. A lot of these quests were usually about destroying monsters, but now, they were quests requesting to kill a certain man. A cloaked man. Most likely the one we had encountered. If he was infamous enough to be wanted dead by all of these people, then he must be stirring up trouble. I quickly accepted one of the requests to kill the cloaked man and a tablet showing his last known location popped into my hands. Maybe I could find out where he currently was.

I pulled out my phone and typed to the messenger.

 **Can you tell me where the cloaked man currently is?**

It sent me a location and it's coordinates in the area. I typed a quick 'thank you' and pulled out the device Histoire gave me. I tapped the button and a holographic image of her appeared. "Yes, what's wrong Tolise?"

"Get Neptune and the other CPUs to go to these coordinates to meet Nepgear and I there," I flashed the coordinates in front of her.

"Sure. But may I ask why?"

"The cloaked man has started appearing in quests now."

She frowned. "I see... I'll contact them immediately."

Her screen faded and I turned to face Nepgear. "We have to go and do this quest."

She nodded and we rushed towards where the cloaked man apparently was...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This will be the start of the second arc. It will focus on Tolise and his connections. Also _Leo,_ the answer to your question is yes. Plus, the next two arcs after this one will be pretty long if they follow the storyline of the Ultradimension and Megadimension. But, thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**

 **P.S.**

 **assassinguy200, I think I'll use your idea. He'll probably be introduced in two chapters. Also, how would you feel about a possible HikanxBlanc relationship thrown in? I just thought about that, but I'll let you decide that.**


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34

While Nepgear and I were running towards the meetup point, I thought about the cloaked man. Whoever he was, I knew that he was from my dimension and that he was a different type of Spawn compared to the rest of us. But I didn't know who he was or what his goals were. Whatever they were though, they were starting to draw attention. Was he trying to lure me out or was he just trying to plan something?

I sighed as the two of us reached the edge of the forest and stopped running. I just hoped that nothing bad would happen. I turned to face Nepgear. She seemed to be disturbed by what we were about to do. I took her hand and gave it a squeeze. She peered over at me. "Tolise..."

"Are you ready?"

She closed her eyes, took in a deep breath and then nodded with a reassured expression. "Yes!"

She transformed into her HDD form and I activated Level Two. I felt the usual heat flow through my body, but I also felt a tingly sensation in my brain. It was like it was shocking my brain awake, opening it's capabilities. Was it because of Kain's Devil? I shook the thought away and the two of us slowly crept into the forest. Whatever the reason, it made me feel a lot stronger and that I could do a lot more. My left eye's vision turned yellow as it scanned the area around. There were no booby traps hidden around, but there was a very large abundance of monsters around the area and they all seemed ready to rip anyone that stood in their way into shreds. It sent a chill up my spine. What exactly was this man doing?

Nepgear materialized her gun blade while I unsheathed my blade and stopped scanning. We continued to quietly push forward, only hearing the sounds of our breaths. "…"

"…"

"…!" I pulled Nepgear towards me right as a ball of a Devil's energy was about to hit her.

*BOOM!*

It disintegrated the path of trees behind us and sent tree bits flying.

It was most likely a Spawn who had thrown that ball of energy. I scanned the direction of where the ball had come from. Nothing. I let go of Nepgear. "We missed them."

"Then how about we follow them?"

I shook my head. "No, they could be trying to trap us and we don't know how many Spawns could be waiting for us. Let's just play smart and go meet up with the others."

"Okay..."

* * *

When we arrived at clearing where we were all meeting, Neptune and the other Goddesses were in their HDD forms. "There you two are!"

Noire crossed her arms. "Geez! You brought us all the way out here and you didn't even show up on time!"

I scratched the back of my head. "Sorry, we were just being careful," I apologized.

"Well, you sure took your time about being 'careful'."

Vert nodded. "Yes, and you, Tolise, also stole my sweet Nepgear from me," she pulled Nepgear into a hug and let her rest her head on her chest.

"….Ahhh...so...soft..." Nepgear was in complete bliss.

Neptune and I both facepalmed. "Come on, Vert," Neptune pulled Nepgear out of Vert's grasp. "We have serious business to discuss."

The CPUs all looked at the Planeptune sisters and I. Noire spoke up. "You say it's serious business, but only you three have met this so-called cloaked man. How do we know that this isn't some prank?"

"Well...that's—"

I spoke up. "Because I'm here, so you can rely on me for a witness."

The CPUs looked relieved at my input. "Well, I guess so. He is pretty reliable," Noire said. Vert and Blanc nodded in agreement.

"Alright," Blanc crossed her arms. "Explain this dire situation to us."

I cleared my throat. "It started when I was doing this quest with Neptune and the two of us encountered a cloaked man who somehow knew me," I said. "He had escaped and sometime later, I was with Neptune and Nepgear doing a quest when I encountered him once again. We had lost to him and we were thrown into a guarded facility. After I broke out and Neptune and Nepgear were rescued, we escaped and now, we're here."

Noire looked surprised. "Do you mean that abandoned facility in Lastation?" I nodded. "I was looking through reports and found a name of someone who had bought that place."

"What was the person's name?"

"I can't remember," she put a hand to her forehead. "I can show you the report when we finish doing this."

I nodded.

"So what's so bad about this guy anyway?" Blanc asked. "I'll beat his ass to the ground."

I shook my head. "No, you can't."

"Why not?"

I gulped. "Because he's also a Spawn."

"So? It's just one. I'm pretty sure all six of us can take him on."

"No, he's a different type of Spawn. One far stronger than me."

Vert's body tensed up. "Even stronger than you now? But you killed all those Spawns in that hole!"

I nodded. "Yeah, and I'm pretty sure that the last time we fought the cloaked man, he wasn't using all of his strength."

"Damnit! Then what's the point of us coming out all this way only to lose?!"

"Simple," I smiled. "I think that the six of us can beat him."

Noire looked at me dumbfounded. "You're joking, right?"

"Why would I be joking?"

"You just said that you, Neptune and Nepgear all lost to him and that he was much stronger than before and that all of us couldn't beat him."

"Okay. How about this? I believe we can stand a chance against him," I waited for Noire's response. "There, better?"

Noire, still with her arms crossed, turned her head away. "Hmph. I guess so."

Why are you so dishonest about your feelings!?

I waved her off. "Whatever. Are you guys going to help or not?"

"I'll join. I know you're not lying," Neptune joined our side and we high fived.

We looked back at the other CPUs. "And you guys?"

They all looked at each other and nodded. Noire spoke up. "It would have been boring to have flown out all this way to only fly back. I guess I can kill some time with you guys before I head back."

The Blanc and Vert nodded in agreement. "Ditto."

"Same goes for me."

They all joined our side. "Thanks guys."

Vert wore a troubled expression. "But how are we suppose to find him? If this really was his last known location, he could be anywhere by now."

"Easy," I pulled out my phone and requested for an update on his location. A second later, I got a reply and showed it to everyone. "All we gotta do is rush to this location and find him before he gets away."

"What if he's already gone by that area?"

"Then we'll search the area. If we can't find him, then we'll call it quits."

Noire and Neptune smirked. "Alright, but if it's a race, then we'll just get the head start first, right Noire?"

"Yeah."

*BANG!*

Before I could tell them anything, they dashed north, at full speed, towards the updated coordinates.

Vert sighed. "Well, might as well get going too," she said before heading off after them.

*BANG!*

"Hey! Get your ass back here!"

*BANG!*

After Blanc had flew away, Nepgear and I were left standing together.

I looked over at her. "Shall we?"

She nodded. "Mhm."

*BANG!* *BOOM!*

I put some of the Devils' energy into my legs and dashed off with Nepgear.

I didn't activate the ability that let me slow down time since this was a "race" and because I usually played fair. Nepgear looked over at me while we flew and dodged obstacles. "Hey, Tolise."

I performed a front flip over an oncoming boulder. "What's up?"

"Do you think that we could...um...do 'that'?"

I dodged over to the left to avoid a tree. "Do you mean sex?!"

Her face turned bright red just as she dodged a tree branch. "Goodness! No, I mean...a date."

"Oh," I said. My face turned a bit red.

"What's wrong? Do you not want to go on one?"

I shook my head. "No, it's just that I already have one planned for us."

She looked at me in surprise. "Really!? When is it?! When is it!?"

"It's a surprise," I smiled. "Sorry, I just don't want to spoil any fun for you."

She sighed. "Okay..."

* * *

When we reached another clearing, we found Neptune, Noire, Vert and Blanc all with their weapons at ready. We slowly approached them.

"What's wrong?"

"You're right," Noire said. "He's real."

"How do you know?"

They faced forward. "Because he's right there."

I stepped in front of them and, no surprise, found myself facing the cloaked man once again. "Well, I'll be damned."

He looked over at me and his purple eyes gleamed brightly. "So, you did show up..."

I pulled my blade back out. "What have you been doing? You've seemed to have gotten a bit of fame in the Guild. What do you want?"

He let out a laugh. "I'm surprised you haven't figured that out yet. I want what's in you."

"You mean what I got from my dimension?"

"Yes. That's right."

So Histoire was right. "Well, even though I don't like it, I know it's better to keep it with me than to hand it to you."

"Alright, but don't come crying to me when it gets out of control."

I raised my blade. "I'd rather take that chance."

"Very well then..." He snapped his fingers.

*CRASH!* *BANG!* *BOOM!*

An explosion blew up around us and when the debris subsided, there stood groups of monsters and Spawns. I slumped over. "You're joking, right?"

"Why would I joke about this?"

And like that, we all charged into battle...

* * *

"Please, go help the CPUs."

"Heh, like I wouldn't..." I turned my back to Histy.

"Oh, wait!"

I spun back around. "Yeah?"

She smiled at me. "It's good to see you again."

I smiled back. "You too, Histy."

I ran out of the doorway and towards the CPUs' location...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I'm thankful to all of you who have submitted ideas! You guys are cool and I will usually incorporate the ideas that I've been given. But anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for submitting ideas. So, thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**

 **P.S.** ** _assassingy200_ ,** **your character will be introduced in the next chapter and it will make the story way more interesting. Also, I guess I'll be doing a HikanxBlanc.**


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35

"Yah!" I spun around and performed a diagonal downward slash at a group of Dogoos.

*SLASH!*

"Nrahhh!" Their gel blew out of them and splattered everywhere.

"GROAHH!" I jumped to the left of the roar.

*CRASH!*

A tail of an Ancient Dragon crashed down right beside me. I leaped onto it's tail and stabbed my blade into it, causing blood to spurt out.

*SHHHHKK!*

"GRAHH!"

I drove my blade up to the crown of it's head and pushed the blade further into it's skull.

"Groah..."

*CRASH!*

It crashed onto the ground and I hopped off it's head, pulling the blade with me. "…!"

Feeling that there was something behind me, I turned around to parry a downward strike.

*BANG!*

I slammed down the attacking Spawn's blade and side kicked him in his stomach.

*Tmp!* *Shlk!*

He fell onto the ground, and before he could get back up, I quickly stabbed him in his head and he let out his final breath.

I looked around for Nepgear to find her struggling to defend against a horde of Spawns.

"Gah!"

She was thrown on the ground and the Spawns slowly approached her. Man, me and déjà vu. I slowed down time and rushed the Spawns.

*Shwing!* *Sk!* *Shk!* *Slash!*

I quickly cut the Spawns to pieces. When time returned to normal, the body parts quickly fell to the dirt. I looked back at Nepgear and helped her to her feet. "Are you okay?"

She gave a slight nod. "Mhm. Thanks."

"No problem. How about we back each other up?"

"Sure."

A wave of monsters and Spawns approached us and I slowed time back down. I was gonna try something. I focused all the "orange" energy to my brain. Suddenly, I felt much more flexible and stronger. I guess I could now use one hundred percent of human capabilities. I dashed towards the Spawns and slashed at the many while Nepgear shot the monsters away.

*SLASH!* *BANG!* *STAB!* *BOOM!* *SHK!*

When I resumed time again, many bodies and monster chunks laid at my feet. I looked around. We had all finished killing all our groups of monsters. All that was left now, was the cloaked man. We surrounded him.

He let out a laugh. "Well, it seems I underestimated you guys..."

"Give it up! You're surrounded!"

He tore off his sleeves and revealed his tattoos. They began to glow brightly. "Like I would give up. You, boy, should know better than anyone how strong I am."

His Devil's purple energy enveloped him and his eyes gleamed brightly. "I'll end all of your pathetic existences right here."

I opened Level Three and dashed towards the cloaked man. "I'll end your's first!" I thrusted my blade at his chest.

He grabbed my wrist and twisted it, causing me to drop my blade. I slowed down time as he did and we rushed at each other. I threw a punch at his face only for him to knee me in the stomach and hit the dirt. He dashed at me but jumped back when Neptune slashed at him. Time returned to normal.

Before he could even touch the ground, Blanc and Vert came up from behind him and they each swung their weapons at his back. He dropped to the ground, held himself up by his hands and kicked his feet back at the two girls, making both of them jump away.

He quickly sped behind them and was about to knock both of them to the ground but was stopped by Noire coming down on him from above.

*Clmp!*

The cloaked man focused some energy into his hands and clasped the blade between his hands.

Noire tried jerking her blade away. "What the?!"

Using her blade, he flung Noire away and tossed her blade away.

He sighed. "Come on you guys. This is way too borin—!"

The six of us had all recovered by the time he let his guard down. We charged at him and we each were ready to slash down at him. "DIE PRICK!"

*BANG!*

* * *

"…"

"…"

I tried moving my body, but only felt immense pain. I couldn't move. I guess it also didn't help that black daggers were stabbed into my limbs. I couldn't heal the stabbed areas so, unless the blades were tossed away, I was stuck like this. I looked to my right to find all the CPUs tied up in ropes around each other. The cloaked man was standing in between us, holding a ball of his Devil's energy close to the ground, ready to kill us the instant it touched the ground.

He looked over at me. "How are you?"

I frowned. "Well, I hate your guts way more than I already did."

"I guess you're not going to be handing me that 'thing' in you, are you?"

I turned my head away from him. "Yeah right."

He sighed. "Very well then," he got ready to push the energy into the ground, so we would all be vaporized.

"Say your prayers..."

I squeezed my eyes shut. _I'm sorry, Nepgear..._

*BREEENN!*

The light of the oncoming explosion slowly lit my closed vision.

"…" When the white light filled my vision, I didn't feel my body being burned or vaporizing. I peeked my eyes open to find myself still alive. I looked around. The CPUs were alive, but so was the cloaked man. Although that was all already strange enough, there was also a boy with his blade who stood facing the cloaked man. Who was this guy?

I looked over at the CPUs. They were crying and watching him with trembling bodies. Did they know him? Why didn't I know him?!

The boy had pale skin, fire red hair in a comb over, a matching pair of eyes and he had a fair build similar to mine. He wore a red hoodie with black sleeves and gloves, he was wearing a pair of black soccer pants with red lining, a pair of red and black military boots and a necklace with a snowflake on it. He seemed to be about my age and also, like me, strong.

His blade was a straight back blade colored black with glowing red lining. There was no cross guard and the hilt was a bright red color. Really, who was this guy?!

"…" The cloaked man look up at him. "Who. The Hell. Are you?"

"…" The boy didn't say anything. He looked at the CPUs before looking back at the cloaked man. What the Hell?! Does he not care about my own safety?! Does he only care about the girls?! Was he one of THOSE guys!?

I decided to not get mad and just watched him. Maybe he was here to help us.

He gritted his teeth and glared at the cloaked man. "Did you...did you do this to these people?" Wait, he did notice me?! "Did you?!"

"And what if I did?" The cloaked man waved him off and pointed towards me. "Look, I really don't care about you, I care about that guy tied up over there. So, you either help me kill him and his friends, I kill you, or you run away and forget this ever happened."

A shadow was casted over the boy's vision. "Are you telling me to kill the CPUs?"

The man formed a blade made of his Devil's energy. "Look, you either answer the question now, or I kill you. The choice is your's."

The boy curled his hands into two balled up fists. He gave the cloaked man a look of pure anger and a power symbol replaced his pupil. Wait, a power symbol?! That was the pupil a CPU got when they went HDD. That either meant he was a CPU or I was seeing things.

"My choice is obvious," he snarled. "I'll protect these girls with my life!"

Did he just steal my line? Wait, why am I getting jealous!?

A bright white light enveloped the boy and he body began transforming. He was a CPU! When the light faded away, there stood a CPU. His body hadn't matured but his build had gotten a bit bulkier, his eye color had changed to an ocean blue color and his hair had spiked backwards. His clothes consisted of a black and red, tank top-like piece with plates covering his thorax and pelvis area, there were also shin, shoulder, and elbow guards that were also plated with a red and black color. To add on to that, he wore a red, skin tight bodysuit. He also wore black boots and red gloves. I could have gone into further detail, but it would've been too difficult to describe. Okay, just imagine a Goddesses' transformed outfit, but only that the outfit was meant for a guy. However, his blade stayed the same, but now it was engulfed in a flaming red. Yep, this guy was definitely a CPU. But how come I've never heard of him?

The male CPU slowly closed his eyes before returning to glaring at the cloaked man. "I'll make sure you go to Hell!" He dashed towards the cloaked man.

*BANG!*

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Enter! The new character! _assassinguy200_ , I'm sorry if the description of Hikan didn't meet your expectations. It's just that there's not a single male CPU, so I had to use my imagination. But, the next chapter will be a battle against Hikan and the cloaked man. Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter! **


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter 36

*Bang!* *ssssss~* *Fwm!* *SKRREEE!* *CRASH!*

The CPU charged at the cloaked man and shot out a ball of fire from his blade. The cloaked man used his energy to block it, but the CPU slashed through the flames and down towards the man. The man quickly formed a blade made of dark matter and used it to defend himself against the boy. Their blades grinded against each other as the flames and sparks flew everywhere. The boy pushed closer and, while the cloaked man was defending against the blade, kneed him in his stomach.

"Agh!" the cloaked man gasped for air as he crumpled to the ground, dropping his blade. The CPU, however, had other plans. He kicked the man up into the air and threw a punch at him that sent him crashing into a tree trunk, sending a shockwave that destroyed the many trees around.

*BANG!* *SLASH!* *SLASH!* *SK!* *SHWING!* *FFWMP!* *BANG!* *SKREEEEN!* *SHHHHK!* FUWMPHFF!*

Before the cloaked man, what was left of his cloak, could pull himself out of the rubble, the boy was already rushing him. He set fire to his blade and dashed towards the man with incredible speed. It was so fast, that the cloaked man only dodged by a hair, causing his cloak to receive a tear. I honestly couldn't even see him because of how fast he was, so I had to slow down time to see him. The boy, however, kept dashing around and slashing over and over until the man was out of breath. The CPU rose above him as the area around him was set to flames.

" ..." the cloaked man tisked. "You...clever bitch."

If you didn't realize what had just happened, the boy had basically just kept slashing around the man while he slowly set the area around him on fire. Making the cloaked man worn out though, was just a bonus.

The CPU raised his blade up towards the sky and the surrounding flames came up and engulfed his blade. Once all the flames had gathered in his blade, the flames were shaped like a Phoenix. We all watched in awe as the CPU looked back down at the cloaked man. "… Go die in HELL!" He dashed towards the cloaked man and slammed the Phoenix-shaped blade down towards him.

"DAMN YOU!"

*FUUUMPH!* *BOOM!*

I shut my eyes as the bright flames blew up, but I passed out instead.

* * *

"…"

"…"

I peeked my eyes open. I was looking up at a ceiling and at the female CPUs and the one male CPU surrounding me.

"Am... Am I alive?"

"Tolise!"

I felt somebody throw themselves at me and wrap their arms around me. I winced in pain. "Ow..."

My vision cleared up and the long-lilac-haired girl quietly sobbed into my bandaged-wrapped chest. "Nepgear..." I ran my fingers through her hair and kissed her on her forehead.

"I... I don't want you to...leave me alone..*hic*... It's...*sniff*... It's so scary...*sniff* ...and lonely...without you!"

Her body was trembling. I whispered into her ear, "I told you I'd never you and I won't. But I also said I'd died protecting you. Because I love you more than anything in the world."

I pulled her in close and our lips met. "Mmn...*smack*...mm."

"Um, hey. Can you please do this later? Cause we're kinda just awkwardly standing here," Neptune asked.

Nepgear pulled away quickly, stood back up and bowed to the rest. "I'm sorry!"

Noire sighed. "Geez! We didn't come to see you two make out. We came here to check in on you, Tolise."

I let out a dry laugh. "Sorry..."

The boy came up to me. I forced myself to sit up on the couch. "And you are?"

He stretched out his hand. "I'm Hikan. Nice to meet you."

"…" I took his hand and shook it. "Tolise. Pleasure."

Hikan looked at me with a curious expression. "So, you're that person Histy was telling me about, aren't you?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but who are you?"

"I'm Red Heart. I'm a CPU."

"Then, how come you don't have a nation and why haven't I heard about you from Histoire?"

He sighed. "That's a long story. Just ask Histoire about it."

I nodded. "Then, if you know Histoire, do you live here?"

"I used to," he sighed. "I just got back so..."

"Got back?"

He waved his hand. "No, it's nothing... Anyway, I've heard you're from a different dimension, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that's how I got here."

"Well, that's good to know."

"Um, hey, can somebody go make some grub? My tummy's growling," Neptune rubbed her stomach.

Hikan nodded. "Sure," he walked away towards the kitchen.

I rested my head back onto the couch and fell asleep. No point in wondering about Hikan right now.

* * *

Histoire and I were now on the balcony at the top of Planeptune's tower.

"So, Histoire," I gave her a serious look. "Who's that Hikan guy?"

She scratched her head. "That's a long story..."

I slouched over. "That's what he said."

"Well, to understand that, you have to understand what had happened in the past."

"Okay. What happened?"

"Well, there was originally a land that the Goddesses used to live on. It was called Celestia. But, they fought for the title known as True Goddess, the title that named that Goddess the strongest. However, a being named Arfoire helped to push the other Goddesses to drive Neptune off of Celestia, making her lose her memory and I was locked away. After Neptune made some friends and learned about her past, they met a boy named Hikan Masato who was close to your age. At the time, he wasn't a CPU, but he did know how to fight. So, Neptune dragged him along with them. After Neptune had won the respect of the other Goddesses, and I was saved, all their shares increased and Hikan somehow managed to absorb the shares and become the CPU known as Red Heart. They eventually fought Arfoire to decide the fate of Gamindustri and ,after they had defeated her, every nations' shares skyrocketed and those shares were used to create the CPU Candidates. However, Celestia was destroyed in the process and the Goddesses eventually forgot about True Goddess."

Hikan grew to feel a connection with the CPUs and he decided to make it his sworn duty to protect them. But, a new group called ASIC rose up, whose goals were to revive Arfoire. When the Goddesses and Nepgear went to stop them, they were overpowered and the shares of Gamindustri plummeted, causing their nations to fall to the sea and the lost shares were absorbed by ASIC. So, with the help of Hikan, Nepgear united the other CPU Candidates and they rescued their sisters. But, they were unable to stop Arfoire's revival. After a long hard battle, all the CPUs were about to be killed, but, instead, Hikan had sacrificed himself to save them and all of Gamindustri. After that, we assumed he had died. But after you guys went to fight the cloaked man, he came back through a portal from your dimension."

Histoire let out a long sigh. "That sure was a lot to explain. Do you understand now, Tolise?"

"I get it," I looked up towards the night sky. "If he went to my dimension and came back, does that mean it's possible to go between dimensions?"

She scratched her head. "It could be possible."

I nodded. "Do you know if Hikan ever defeated the cloaked man earlier today?"

She shook her head. "They told me that he was severely injured but still alive. They also said that underneath his hood was a black and red mask."

I sighed. "Man, he really doesn't want anyone to know who he is, does he?" Then again, I don't want people to know my real name.

"Probably not."

I headed for the door. "Well, I'm calling it quits tonight. G'night."

She waved me goodbye. "Good night."

I popped my head back through the doorway. "By the way, do you know where Hikan sleeps?"

"He sleeps on the floor above your's."

I nodded. "Thanks."

I walked back down to my room and sat quietly onto my bed. Hikan was a boy who had become a CPU and, because of his love for his friends, decided to live his life protecting them. Like me. But the only difference was that he hadn't lived the life I had. Was his reason for fighting really different from mine or were we really fighting for the same reason? I rested my head onto the pillow. I knew what I was going to do tomorrow.

* * *

 _ **"You don't want us to hold back tomorrow?!"**_

 **"Are you crazy!? So many could die from that!"**

 _"I want to know something. So I need you guys to not hold back when you fight tomorrow."_

 **"Whatever kid. Just know that you're digging your own grave."**

* * *

"…"

The rays of the sun beamed down on me and I quickly rolled off the bed, changed clothes, grabbed my blade and rushed down to the floor above mine. I found Hikan walking out of his room, rubbing his eyes.

"Hey! Hikan!" I dashed up to him.

"Hm?" Hikan turned to face me. "Oh, hey Tolise. What's up?"

I looked directly into his eyes. "Fight me."

His face was blank. "Huh?"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **The next chapter will be a fight between Hikan and Tolise and after their fight, I'll start the HikanxBlanc relationship. Also, _Leo_ , it's good to see you have an OC idea, but(This applies to everybody) you can either PM me the idea or just leave it in the reviews. Either one is alright. Also, I WILL be making another Neptunia fanfic after I finish this one. I will have a poll after this fanfic ends to see where and what you guys want the next fanfic to be about. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	37. Chapter 37

Chapter 37

"Fight me."

He looked dumbfounded. "Huh?"

I repeated the two words. "Fight. Me."

"Why? I don't want to hurt you."

"I need you to spar with me so that I can prove something."

Hikan sighed. "I'm not even going to ask what you wanna prove," he stepped out of the room. "But I will fight you."

"Alright."

* * *

Hikan stretched his body while I patiently waited for him to finish. We were in a mountain range, which is totally a cliché, away from the people.

He finished stretching and jumped back up. "Alright, I'm ready," he materialized his blade. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

I unsheathed my blade. "Positive."

"Alright," he took a stance.

I also took a stance and we just watched each other, not making a move. Only the wind blew.

"…"

"…"

I activated Level Three and slowed down time.

*BANG!* *CRASH!*

I dashed towards Hikan and slashed downwards at him. He parried by swinging his blade up towards mine and causing my blade to fly away. He took a step forward and got ready to stab me. I activated my body to act at one hundred percent and slammed the blade down to the ground.

"…!"

*Crack!*

Right before I could retract my arm, he quickly raised his head and slammed it against mine, causing me to tumble to the ground. He rushed at me, materializing another blade along the way.

*Clang!* *Slash!* *Boom!*

I formed a blade out of my Devil's 'red' energy and blocked his strikes. But he was constantly smashing me down and was moving so fast that I couldn't even see a single opening. He raised his blade and slammed me further into the ground, creating a crater around me.

*CLANG!* *CRASH!* *BANG!* *SLASH!* *BOOM!*

I further slowed down time mid-fall. This time I could actually see his movements. Before another strike came down on me, I caught myself, dashed forward and banged my head against his. He stumbled back but quickly regained his footing.

"…" Hikan wiped the blood off of his face. "I guess you don't suck ass."

"Heh, I could say the same about you," I also wiped away my blood.

"But, like classic anime stereotypes, I'm not even using my full power yet."

I crossed my arms. "I figured. You are a CPU after all."

He looked at me weirdly. "What? Aren't you worried?"

I smirked. "No. Because, like you, I also haven't used my full power yet."

"… I see," he let out a sigh. "Well then, how about a no-holding-bars-back match now?"

I laughed. "That's what I was hoping you'd suggest."

He transformed into his CPU form and looked at me seriously. "Your turn."

I closed my eyes. "If you say so."

 **"You want us to fight this guy?"**

I thought, _Yup, now kick your rear in gear!_

 _ **"Whatever."**_

My darkened vision slowly turned into a fiery red.

* * *

 **Hikan's POV**

I watched as Tolise's body became enveloped in an orange and red flame aura. He opened his eyes back up. He was now wearing half of a white mask and his eye color had changed to a moon yellow with black scleras. His hair, which was now a silver color, had grown out and he now wore red tattoos that wrapped around both of his arms. He sneered and began to laugh maniacally. **"HAHAHAHA! I haven't felt so alive in such a long time! Tell me boy, are you ready to die!?"**

Huh? Just a second ago, he seemed like a completely normal guy. But now, he seemed to be a crazy maniac with only the sole intention of killing. "Tolise, are you okay?"

He continued to laugh. **"Tolise?! HAHAHA! That boy is now gone! Now, you will refer to me as the name people used to fear, Lucifer!"**

"…!" That name. When I had been taken to the other dimension, I had learned about these beings called Spawns. It was, after spending some time in that dimension, that I learned of two boys. I couldn't remember what one of them was, but the other one had been called Tolise, which was probably the one I was fighting. I had also learned of a boy nicknamed Lucifer and it was feared by many.

"So, you really are the one named Lucifer from over in the other dimension."

 **"That's right and do you want to know how I got that name?"**

"Enlighten me."

 **"Heh. Actually, how about I show you instead?"**

"…!"

Before I could do anything, he was already in my face. He gave me a devilish grin and slammed my head into the ground. A wave of pain blew up in my head.

I kicked back at him only to get my feet caught. He threw me into the side of a boulder, causing it to shatter when I hit it. I collapsed onto the ground. "… Damn." He was so strong now and much faster. If I didn't give it my all, he could actually kill me. I pulled myself up and lit my blade. I cast him a glare. "You're going to lose ….. and I'm going to win!"

This just caused him to smile. **"I'll taste your blood first, but I'd like to see you try,"** he taunted as he formed a blade made of some type of red energy.

I took a stance. "I'll happily accept your offer. Just don't come crying to me when you lose."

I had to give it my all if I wanted to win or even live.

*BANG!* *CRASH!* *BANG!* *SLASH!* *CLANG!*

I rushed at him, quickly went behind him and thrusted my blade at him. He turned around and slammed my blade to the ground. I quickly shot fire into the ground, causing it to blow up and allowing me to retract my blade. I jumped back to catch my breath before rushing at him again. I increased my speed and slashed at him. He blocked the slash and pressed his blade against mine.

 **"What's wrong? Can't win? What really is your will for fighting? Because, whatever it is, it's not strong enough!"**

"…!"

He kicked me away and caught my blade. **"Your will for fighting is what makes you strong. Not our stupid powers or weapons. Now, what is your will?"**

My will...

I pushed myself back up. "No matter what..."

My will...

"I can't lose to you..."

Is to protect my friends...

"Because I've made promises to others..."

And to...

"AND I WON"T STOP UNTIL THEIR PROMISES ARE MET!"

Clear this dimension of Darkness and keep my promise.

 **"Then show me how strong this will of your is!"**

"Fine! It's time you learned your place!"

*BANG!* *CRASH!* *BOOM!* *SLASH!* *SHWING!* *SHK!* *SK!* *FFWMPH!*

I felt a surge of power flow through me and I dashed at Lucifer once again. This time, I managed to get there before his body could react. I quickly grabbed him by the skull and smashed him into a boulder.

I kicked him through the boulder and rushed behind him, slamming him into the ground. He swung his blade at me, but I kicked it away and stomped him further into the ground. I materialized my blade and took a slash at him only for him to dodge and get back to his feet. I pressed forward. I slashed at him as fast as I could while he only dodged by hairs. After taking a few more slashes at him, I took one last swing at him and, right before he dodged out of the way, shot flames at him.

He blocked the flames and I quickly absorbed the flames into my blade. But he formed a blade of red energy and it became consumed in a red and orange flame. We slammed our blades against each other.

*BANG!* *BOOM!*

* * *

 **Tolise's POV**

"…"

"…"

I looked over at Hikan, he was lying beside me. "Is it okay if we just call this a draw?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I can agree to that."

I closed my eyes and looked back at the midday sky. "That's a relief."

We had both lost an arm during our last clash and we were now just laying on the ground, bruised and broken.

"Hey."

I looked back at him. "What's up?"

"Why'd you want to fight me?"

I let out a dry laugh. "Well, you're going to think the reason is stupid."

"I still want to hear it."

"Well, Histoire told me about your past and that you sacrificed yourself to save your friends."

"Yeah, and?"

"And I thought your reasoning to protect others was because of some selfish reason but that wasn't it at all. Our motives are practically the same and I wanted to prove it."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that we both want to see the world become a better place and we want to protect the ones close to us."

"Then, what exactly is your reason for fighting?"

I smiled. "Although it is to protect my loved ones and save the world from destruction, I also have another motive for fighting."

"What?"

My cheeks reddened a bit. "To protect Nepgear and to live a happy life with her."

"Why? Why would you go so far for one person?"

"When you love somebody, they become somebody you can't live without or be happy without."

"But you have your friends. What about your parents?"

"My parents tried to kill me and I had spent most of my time living and surviving alone."

"I guess I can't understand what you went through. But I do understand your motive to protect Nepgear."

"Whatever. As if."

He shook his head. "No, I can. I share similar feelings for someone else."

"Oh? And who is this special someone?"

"If you figure out where I'll be tomorrow, then you'll probably figure out."

"Alright."

"But can you at least fix my arm before we head back?"

"Sure, but under one condition."

"What's that?"

I looked back up at the sky and closed my eyes. "Promise that we'll fight again."

Hikan tisked and looked up at the sky. "I'll promise that, but we can't exactly shake on that, can we?"

I chuckled. "Not right now."

And, while the sun slowly set, we just sat there and talked...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And so, this ends the battle between Tolise and Hikan. Who do you think should've won in their last clash? Let me know. Don't worry though. There will be more fights between them in the future. But, the next few chapters won't involve Tolise's story, instead it will focus on Hikan's story. Anyway, that's all I got to say. So, thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	38. Chapter 38

Chapter 38

"WHAT DID YOU TWO DO!? WHY ARE YOU GUYS ALL BEAT UP AND STUFF!?" Neptune cried out.

Hikan and I scratched our heads. "Heh, that's a long story," I said. "Just don't worry about it. We're fine."

Neptune looked at us with squinted eyes. "For some reason, I can't believe that."

Sweat poured down our faces. "It's fine," I answered. "We just ran into a group of Dogoos."

"Hmmm," Neptune continued to observe us. "Well, whatever. You guys are weird."

She waddled off and we let out sighs. "At least we fixed our arms," I muttered.

Hikan nodded. "Yeah."

We had gotten back right when the moon had come up. Of course, I did end up healing Hikan and myself so it wouldn't look like we had gotten into a big fight when we got home. But the torn clothes and bruise marks didn't help.

He followed me to the kitchen. I pulled open the fridge and cast a glance at Hikan. "You know how to cook?"

He let out a chuckle. "Of course I do. C'mon, we better make something before the girls get down here."

"We should also take a shower before it's time to eat."

"Ditto."

* * *

"Um..." Histoire looked between Hikan and I. "Why are you two covered in so many bruises."

I slurped on my noodles. "*Slurp!* ... We went on a quest together and we were ambushed."

Nepgear, who was sitting beside me, caressed my cheek. "Are you two alright?"

We nodded. "It's okay. We just got jumped, but we're fine now."

"Still, you two look way too beat up to have just been surprised by some monsters."

"Yeah! ... *Slurp!* … You two are lying!" proclaimed a hungry Neptune.

"No we're not!" We stated in unison.

"Yes you are!"

"No we're not!"

"YES!"

"NO!"

"GO BUY ME PUDDING!"

"NO!"

* * *

I sat in my room with Nepgear. "Did monsters really attack you two or did something else happen?"

I scratched my head. "Um, can we please not talk about that?"

"Aww. But I want to know!"

I pulled her into a hug. "I'll tell you someday. Just not now, alright?"

She gave me a small smile. "Okay..."

"Do you want to sleep with me tonight?"

"Mhm..."

"Alright," I gave her a quick smooch. "But change clothes first."

"Alright."

* * *

 **Hikan's POV**

I sat in my room looking out the window. I clutched my necklace. _Tomorrow,_ I thought. _Tomorrow I'll get to see 'her' again._

I climbed onto my bed and stared at the ceiling. I thought about Tolise's, or rather Lucifer's, words.

 _"Your will for fighting is what makes you strong. Not our stupid powers or weapons. Now, what is your will?"_

I buried my face into my pillow. My will for fighting was what made me strong... I smiled. His will was not only to protect his loved ones and to stop the spread of Darkness but to also live a happy life with Nepgear. I shared a will similar to this.

 _"Whatever, that's a lie."_ That's what he had said.

I shook my head. It wasn't a lie. I did share feelings for someone and that had helped motivate me to get back to Gamindustri. When I had been transported to the other dimension and had spent some time there, I had learned that two boys there had cleared their world of Darkness and before they disappeared.

I knew that one of those boys had been Tolise and I had met him, but I didn't know anything about the other one. Maybe Tolise could tell me.

Before I could think more about it, I passed out.

* * *

 **Tolise's POV**

Today, I was with Neptune and Noire, and we were heading off to Lowee. I asked Nepgear if she wanted to come with us, but she wanted to play with Uni, so I just let her be. We had told Blanc we were coming, but she didn't say anything.

We continued to walk through the crowds of people.

"So, what do you guys think Ms. Pissy Heart is doing?"

I shrugged. "Maybe she just didn't feel like playing with us?"

"Or maybe she's actually trying to do her work unlike you, Neptune," Noire snapped.

"Hey! We're all here to have fun not to do boring junk like work!" Neptune grinned. "Now stop being such a loner and actually play with us!"

"I-I'm not a loner! I just actually get my work done, unlike you!"

"But at least I have friends!"

"But I have the most shares of the two of us!"

I stepped in between them. "Hey, you guys can do this later. Let's just go to Blanc's place first, okay?"

"Fine!"

"Okey-dokey!"

* * *

"Hey! Look, Rom! It's that Turtle guy!" Ram pointed at me.

"G-good to see you, Mr. Turtle," greeted a quiet Rom.

See, at this age, I kind of understand why they'd mispronounce names, but for Neptune, it's just not right.

"That's right! See, your name IS Turtle, you're Turtle!"

I facepalmed. "I swear Neptune, I swear..."

Noire cast me a look of sympathy. "Don't even try. She's a lost cause."

"I'm not lost nor am I the cause of his real name being Turtle!"

Noire and I both turned to her. "YES! You are!"

She stuck out her tongue. "Bleh! You people are always so serious!"

"No, Neptune, you're just too easygoing."

"Whatever! We're wasting time!"

Ram tugged on my hand. "Yeah! C'mon and play with us!"

Rom pulled my other. "Let's play..."

* * *

While the girls played on a console, I thought about Blanc and what Hikan told me yesterday.

He had said, _"I share similar feelings for someone else."_

"…" He had told me that if I followed him today I could figure out. But I didn't follow him because I decided to hang with the girls. But now, I HAD to know!

I rested my head onto my hands and thought. "Hmm..."

Based on what his personality was like it was hard to tell. He was probably out with her today considering he said that if I wanted to know, I would have to follow him. Maybe his clothes?

He wore red and black clothes, with his main color being red. But what good would knowing his color do? What else did he wear? I haven't seen his comfort clothes, but he did wear a... snowflake... necklace...

"...!" I jumped to my feet. The girls turned to face me.

"Huh? Tolise, what's wrong?" Noire asked.

"Yeah man! Are you jealous that you haven't gotten to play yet?"

"Come on! We can let you use one of our controllers!" Ram offered.

Rom offered her controller to me. "Do you want to play?"

I shook my head. "No, I just have to go somewhere. I'll be back. Don't worry."

"Where are you going Mr. Turtle?" Rom asked.

"I'm going to go find Hikan."

The two girls jumped in surprise. "HIKAN"S BACK!?"

"Um... yeah. He got back two days ago," I said. "Why?"

Ram smiled. "He was so cool! He bought us stuff and played with us so much!"

Rom smiled shyly and giggled. "Hehehe. He read me books and played with us."

"Wow. He must've really liked you two."

"Yup! And he would always play with Blanc when we made her mad!"

"What do you mean?"

"Whenever we made her mad, Hikan would always take her out to do something with her."

"He was super nice," stated a shy Rom.

Ram scratched her head. "Come to think of it, Blanc hurried out today and said we could do whatever we wanted."

"That doesn't sound like Blanc at all."

"No, but whatever! Let's keep playing!"

The girls turned their attention back to their game.

I rushed out of Rom and Ram's room and back to the front of the basilicom. I found a basilicom member. "Hey! You!"

He turned his attention to me. "Yes, sir? How can I help you?"

"Can you tell me where Blanc went?"

He shook his head. "No, sir. Lady Blanc left and said she was meeting somebody for urgent business. She seemed to be in a rush."

"Thanks," I said before dashing out of the basilicom.

"Now, where to find those two..."

* * *

 **Hikan's POV**

I walked down a narrow alleyway to find the building I was looking for. "Ah, here it is!" I pulled the door open.

I took in a whiff of the building's scent. This place brought back so much nostalgia. By the way, I'm not making a drug deal. I'm just here in a library to read. Yes, I'm breaking the Fourth Wall.

The last time I had been in this place, was right before the battle against Arfoire. I had been with Blanc and her sisters and we were just reading. I looked through the fantasy section. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized how much time I had spent with Blanc and her family. I pulled out a decently-sized book and went to check it out.

"Hikan?"

I looked over to my right. Wow, I wasn't expecting to meet her here so soon. "Blanc?"

She walked over to me and wrapped her arms around me. Her body was trembling. "It's... good to see you again."

I returned her embrace. "Same to you."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **If you didn't realize it, it was a Blanc who Hikan was going to see. But, I switched points of views more because I felt like it helped with the story. But that's all I got to say. So, thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	39. Chapter 39

Chapter 39

 **Tolise's POV**

*Tmp!*

I hopped onto a building top and sighed. "Man, I really am bad with love."

If I thought about it, it made sense that this person that Hikan cares about is Blanc. The only reason it was obvious was because of his attire. He normally wore nothing but red and black. But the thing that stuck out about what he wore, was the snowflake necklace. The snowflake, if you thought about it, made you think about all of Lowee's snow. Plus, it couldn't be anyone else considering Histoire said that he made good friends with the CPUs. Or, I could just be an idiot that knows nothing about this.

My left eye turned the golden yellow color when I began to scan the area around me.

"…"

I searched through all the hotels and inns. Nothing. I moved to the candy and toy shops. Still nothing. Lastly, I looked through the restaurants and amusement parks. Dead. I stopped my scan. "Damn! Where could those two be!?"

All I really had to do was find either Hikan or Blanc. But that didn't seem possible. I scratched my chin. "Hmmm... What do I really know about those two?"

I didn't really know anything about those two at all. I knew Blanc got easily angered, but I knew nothing about Hikan.

"Wait, that's it!"

I felt dumb for not thinking about this sooner. I pulled out my phone and sent the messenger a request.

 **Tell me what Hikan's hobbies are and what Blanc's are.**

*Ding!*

My phone chimed and a screen popped up showing their hobbies. If I knew what hobbies they shared, I could narrow down the locations of where to find them.

"…"

There were only three. Reading, hearing stories and being in quiet places. The first place that I thought of was a library. I pulled out a map of Gamindustri and made it show me all the libraries of Gamindustri. There were hundreds. I sighed. "Guess I better start in Lowee."

I hopped off the building and continued my search. "I guess I am a nosy guy."

* * *

 **Hikan's POV**

Blanc and I sat in a corner of the library, reading our books. She sat in between my legs, with her cap off and read her's while I read mine. The peaceful quietness really was nice and I had missed it.

"…"

"…"

My book was looming over Blanc's head. If it fell, she would probably get pissed at me. But even her getting angry at me made me happy. I was just happy to be with her again.

She let out a small yawn and covered her mouth. "Hikan."

I set my book aside and looked down at her. "Yeah?"

"I... I missed you," she said as her face turned a slight shade of pink.

I smiled. "I missed you too."

"I liked it when it was quiet, but I felt so lonely without you to comfort me."

"I'm sorry. But you were the reason I got back so fast. It took months, but thanks to you, I was able to come back and see you again."

She looked back at me. "Are you going to leave again?"

I chuckled. "I can't make any promises, but I'll try my best."

She flashed one of her rare smiles. "Thank you."

"Well," I pulled myself up and helped her to her feet. "How about we go do something a bit different?"

She pulled her cap back on. "Can we go somewhere that isn't too loud?"

I smiled and patted her head. She was honestly adorable. "It won't be too loud. But there will be a bit of noise."

She nodded and closed up her book. "Okay, let's go."

"Alright," she linked her arm with mine and we walked out of the library door. But as I left, I noticed a figure with a familiar face. I laughed and turned away from the figure.

I muttered, "Guess the cat's out of the bag, Tolise."

* * *

 **Tolise's POV**

Well, I guess I wasn't wrong and that he wasn't lying. He did share feelings for another person and that person was Blanc. I couldn't hear what they were saying from where I was, but I could see them. The two of them seemed to hold a close bond. A bond that couldn't be easily be broken and they cared for each other. Just like Nepgear and I.

When he passed me, Hikan had smiled before leaving with Blanc. He must've seen me but didn't stop me. Oh well.

I walked out of the library and back to the Lowee Basilicom.

*Briinnnng!* *Briinnnnng!*

But, on the way, I received a call. I pulled my phone back out. It was from Rick. I hit the 'answer' button and held the phone to my right ear. "Yo."

"Hello? Tolise, is that you?"

"Hey, Rick. What's up man?"

"I found a device that can track the warps in space that are between our dimensions!"

"Yeah? And?"

"We can see where the portals are opening up for people from our dimension to get here."

"So we can find out how these Spawns are getting here, right?"

"Exactly!"

"Then why don't we do it now?"

"I'm kind of tied up at the moment. How about tomorrow?"

I laughed. "Is it because you're trying to get your Devil to heal up all that fat of yours?"

"…" He remained silent. "What if I said no?"

"Then it wouldn't matter because I already know you're lying."

He let out a laugh. "Whatever. Well, I'll call you tomorrow."

"See ya."

*Click!*

I put the phone back in my pocket. "This could be interesting..."

* * *

"Turtle! You're late!"

*Bmf!*

Neptune tackled me to the ground the second I walked through the door. "Oww... I-I'm sorry. Now, can you get off of me?"

"Oh, oopsy!" Neptune hopped off me and patted some dust off of her hoodie. "Hey, will you play with us now?"

I pulled myself up. "Sure."

Rom and Ram approached the two of us. "Hey, Mr. Turtle!" Ram showed me a colorful scribbling. "We drew you!"

"Do you like it?"

"…"

The "drawing" was a bunch of scribble marks drawn over the words of a book. There were so many colors everywhere, it could probably give you a seizure. But, in the midst of all those scribbles, was a deformed, blocky figure with a devil's face. He had horns and was breathing out fire, while his victims laid dead at his feet.

"…"

This was such a dark image especially to be drawn by these two little girls. Seriously, they had to be ten year old at best! Why did they draw me looking like such a demonic person. I understand that they learned about my past, but this was just on a completely different scale on how I told the story. Now, was it an accurate representation on what I actually did back then? Yes, it actually was. But the point is, these two aren't supposed to know these things, even if they've seen death!

"…" I remained speechless.

They looked at me with eyes of anticipation. "Do you like it?"

"Um..." I looked over at Neptune. She turned away the second my eyes met her and she began to whistle. Don't leave me to deal with this on my own!

"Well," I scratched my head and cleared my throat. "It's... very... um... creative?"

"Yay! The turtle praised us!" Ram shouted her glee.

"Yay! Praise!" Rom also shouted.

I handed them back their "drawing" and they took off to somewhere else. "I don't even know..."

"Well hey, it was a pretty cool drawing!" Neptune chimed in.

I cast her a glare. "But why didn't you help me!? I don't know how to explain that to children!"

She let out a dry laugh. "Ah-ha... ha... ha. Yeah, um, well, y'know," she scratched her head. "You're better at dealing with serious situations."

"Yeah, but you act exactly like those two but worse! If anything, you should be good around those two!"

"Yeah, but you seemed like you had it all tied down!"

"I didn't."

"Well, everything's all fine and dandy now, right?"

I let out a sigh. No point in fighting the system. "Sure. Everything's all fine and dandy now."

Neptune flashed me a smile. "See, there's no point in bickering about useless crap like that!"

"Sure, whatever Neptune, whatever."

We walked back to Noire who was murmuring to herself in the corner. Something about 'no friends' and 'being lonely'. Seriously girl, I thought I fixed this problem with you!

"Hey, Noire!" Neptune bonked her head. "Don't enter the land of yuri! Not yet!"

She rubbed her head. "Ow! Don't say that! I was just thinking about things!"

Neptune cocked her head in curiousity. "Hm? What kind of things? Lonely things? Dirty things?"

Noire's face became flustered. "N-no! Not at all!"

While Neptune continued to tease Noire, I grabbed a controller. "Hey, if you two aren't playing, I'll just play on my own."

"Hey! No fair! I wanted to be player one!" Neptune quickly scrambled for a controller.

Noire also dived for a controller. "Oh, no you don't!"

And just like that, we played for the rest of the day.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **The next chapter will return back to the main story for a bit. But, near the end of the arc, there will be more OcxCharacter interactions, so don't worry. I am sorry that I didn't put too much Blanc romance this time, but I'll try to put in more next time. So, thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	40. Chapter 40

Chapter 40

It was around the evening when Hikan and Blanc came back to the Basilicom. Neptune, Noire and I were just chatting on the couch.

"So, thanks to my awesome reasoning, that's why the chicken came before the egg!" Neptune puffed out her chest in confidence.

"…" Noire and I remained speechless.

"That's the dumbest reasoning I've ever heard of," stated Noire.

"What!? Nah man! That's like the smartest thing I've ever said."

I sighed. "If that's the smartest thing you've ever said, then I worry about what will become of Planeptune."

"Um, what are you guys talking about?"

We spun around to see Hikan and Blanc standing at the door.

"Howdy! Where'd you two go?"

Blanc was blushing and was clinging to Hikan's arm. "We went to go eat at a restaurant. It was fun."

The two of them sat on the couch with us. Neptune chuckled. "It must have been fun considering you made Blanc blush."

"I-I'm not blushing you bitch!" Blanc puffed out her cheeks.

Hikan placed a hand on her shoulder and whispered something in her ear.

"…" Blanc grumbled a bit and stamped out of the room. But Hikan was smiling. "That girl..."

"What'd you tell her?"

He smiled. "Nothing important. Don't worry about it."

I also smiled and nodded. "Hey, I got a question for you."

"Yeah, what's up?"

Neptune jumped onto my back and pressed my face against the cushions. "Which came first? The chicken or the egg?"

Hikan scratched his head. "Umm... the egg."

"What!? Why!?"

"Well, the chicken can't be born without an egg, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"So, the egg had to be there for the chicken to be born."

Neptune puffed out her cheeks. "No! That's wrong! Because an egg can't be born without a chicken popping it out! Meaning, the holy ones above created the first chicken!"

"…" Hikan was speechless. It's stupid, isn't it?

"Wahh!"

*Fwmp!*

I pushed Neptune back onto the couch and got off the couch. "See that's where you're both wrong!"

Hikan cocked his head. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that this argument is pointless. It's like asking how the Earth was created."

"But the Big Bang explained that," Hikan said.

I shook my head. "But that's just all theory. You have no way of proving the Big Bang actually happened even if you have a piece of rock from back then. It's not proof unless you see it with your own eyes."

Noire spoke up. "So are you saying that the neither the chicken nor the egg came first?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm saying that it can't be proved until we go back to when the first chicken or egg was created. Nothing can be totally proved unless we actually see it."

"Zzzz... *snore*…. pudding..."

We looked over to find Neptune asleep. "Good grief."

I looked over at Hikan. "Should we wake her up?"

He shook his head. "Trust me, it's better to let her sleep."

I nodded. "It probably is."

* * *

We were now all walking back to Planeptune. "You know, Tolise."

I looked over at Hikan. "Yeah?"

We whispered into my ear. "We should have a double date sometime."

I gave him a funny look. "But I already have my date planned!"

He laughed and then shrugged. "It's fine. We'll just follow you guys."

"But why?!"

He smiled. "Blanc said she wanted to go on one, but I didn't know what to do. So I asked her if she would like to go on a date with you and Nepgear. She said yes."

"And you didn't think to ask me first?"

Hikan shook his head.

I let out a sigh. "Fine. Sure. You can go with us."

He smiled. "Thanks man."

Neptune popped in between us. "Go where? Are you guys going to a spooky house?" She wiggled her fingers.

"No, we're going to have some fun," Hikan answered.

"Ohhh! What kind of fun? When is it?" Neptune jumped around excitedly.

"We're going to have a double date." Hikan! Don't tell her!

Neptune frowned. "Dude, that's bogus!"

"Why? You said you're fine with me dating your sister."

"Yeah, but the idea of you actually going on a date with her is so weird!"

"How do you find that weird if we... y'know." I sent Neptune some eye signals.

"I don't know. It just seems weird." Great logic Neptune. Great logic.

"Well, you got about a month to get over how weird it will be because it won't happen until next month."

Neptune and Hikan gave me puzzled looks. "Hm? Why?"

"Well, I don't like to rush things."

Neptune burst out laugh. "Bwahahaha! That's so funny!" She fell to the ground in tears.

"What's so funny about it?"

Hikan just looked at me. "Well, if you two already did 'that' in bed so early, then I don't think you can say you don't like rushing things."

"We were in the 'moment'! Give me a break!"

"In other words, you turned her on."

*Crack!*

Hikan crumpled to the ground and held his cheek. "Ow... Why'd you hit me?"

"Look, I just don't want to talk about that night, alright?" And saying that I "turned her on" makes me feel like a douchebag.

He sighed and I helped him to his feet. "Fine."

"Thank you. Now, how would you like to come with me tomorrow?"

"Why? Where are we going?"

"We're going to see somebody that may have the answers about the portals between our dimensions."

Hikan smiled. "I like the sound of that."

* * *

*Knock!* *Knock!*

I knocked on Hikan's door. After we had gotten home from Lowee, we had simply had dinner and gone to bed. Nothing else. The next morning, I was going pick up Hikan before going to see Rick, but I was stopped by Neptune and Nepgear, who both wanted to come with us. So, in the end, I had to bring Neptune and Nepgear along with me. "Hey, Hikan, open up!"

He opened his door and rubbed his eyes. "Oh, hey. What's up?" He asked after yawning.

"What'd you mean?" I asked. "We're going to go investigate the portals."

His eyes shot open. "Crap! Sorry, I'll be ready in a sec."

*BAM!*

He slammed his door shut and, a second later, he was ready. "Alright, let's go."

"Wow! You got ready as fast as a blue hedgehog!"

"Goodness, that was fast."

I looked at Hikan and we just shrugged. "Let's just go."

He nodded.

* * *

We were now in a dark alleyway. Rick was supposed to be at the end of the alley.

"Wow, this place is dark and creepy. It's like one of those places where people go for drug deals and nasty stuff." Neptune, what do you think in that crazy head of yours?

"Here, this should help."

I formed a few balls of my Devils' orange and red energy and illuminated the area with a fiery color.

"Wow!" Nepgear looked around at the lights surrounding us in awe. "It's so pretty!"

"They'll follow us to where I go until I dismiss them."

Hikan smiled. "That's a cool trick."

"When you spend so many years with a Devil's power, you pick up a few things."

"Wait, but why didn't you just use your phone's flashlight?"

"I don't need a flashlight on my phone. Plus, it doesn't have one."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense."

While we continued to walk and talk, I looked over at Nepgear, who was looking at the balls of energy with a curious look. "…"

I walked beside her. "Hey, Nepgear, what's up?"

She snapped from her trance. "Huh?"

I pointed to the balls of energy. "What's wrong? You've been staring at the balls for a bit."

She shook her head. "No, it's nothing. It's just that those balls have a feeling to them and that that feeling is inside me."

I nodded.

"Do you know why I have that feeling?"

"Hm?"

"Well, you seem to know a lot about these Devils and Spawns. So, do you know anything about these energy balls?"

"Um... yeah."

These balls of energy were the same balls of energy that I had used to heal Nepgear. Not only did they heal people, but the energy in them could basically do anything I wanted them to. Right now, I was commanding them to illuminate light. But, when I had put a ball of energy in Nepgear to heal her, it had remained there and it would stay there until I told it to leave, my Devil died or I died.

"Well, the Devils in me are using their energy to form these balls of energy," I pointed at the balls. "And they basically listen to any command I give them."

I pointed at her abdomen. "So, when we were back at the facility, I used a ball of energy to heal you."

She smiled. "That makes sense. But what's this feeling that I have in me?"

I nodded. "The energy I used to heal you was put into you and it's still there."

Nepgear jumped back. "Eh!? Then, what's happening to my body?!"

I shrugged and took her hand to ease her anxiety. "Nothing. It's just there until I command it to do something."

She let out a sigh of relief. "When will it leave?"

"When I die, my Devil dies, or when I tell it to leave."

"Okay. But why didn't you just tell it to leave when I was healed?"

"Well, since it's in you, it technically sees you as it's vessel. So, you can probably use it when I'm unconscious. Basically, it's some extra power."

"But, won't you die if I use up too much of your power?"

"That's why there's only a bit of the Devil's energy in you. So, you can probably only use it once."

"When should I use it?"

"Use it only if you absolutely have to. If you feel that it's a true dire situation, then use it."

She nodded. "Okay."

"Hey! I'm here you guys!"

After talking and walking for a while, we had found Rick at the end of the alleyway. Beside him was a metal tablet with a green colored screen.

Hikan smirked and pointed at the tablet. "I assume that this is the portal detection device."

He nodded. "Yup."

I grinned. "Then let's start the fun stuff."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **The information at the end of the chapter is valuable. On an unrelated note, which do you think came first? The chicken or the egg? But, the next chapter will resume the main story. So, thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	41. Chapter 41

Chapter 41

"Hmmm..."

I looked over the purple dots that kept popping up everywhere before quickly disappearing.

Hikan peered over my shoulder. "So these purple dots are where these portals are, right?"

Rick nodded. "Yup," he pointed to the many dots. "These portals are popping up everywhere and disappear a bit later."

"…" I studied the portals popping up.

The dots were sprayed around in a circle and were surrounding a certain area. "Hey, Rick."

"Yes?"

I pointed to the center of the surrounded area. "Do you know where this place is?"

He looked at the screen. "Oh. Well, that's in Leanbox. It's in a cave there. Here are the coordinates."

He handed me a tablet with a set of coordinates on it. "Thanks."

"Glad to help."

He nodded. "If you see any change in the portals, call us. But, right now, we're going to that cave."

"Alright. Stay safe."

Neptune and Nepgear activated their HDD forms. "Don't worry," I said. "We'll be fine."

We dashed off and Rick waved us goodbye. But for some reason, I was thinking about the talk with Kain's Devil.

 _My real name..._

* * *

We were now slowly approaching the designated area. I glanced behind me. I asked in a hushed voice, "Um, Vert. Why are you following us?"

She whispered back. "I want to make sure my adorable Nepgear isn't harmed. Right, little sister?" She smiled and cast a glance at Nepgear.

I looked over at Nepgear. She was trying her best not to succumb to peer pressure. "Um…"

I turned my head back. "Whatever. The more the merrier as they say."

We were now in Leanbox and Vert had somehow managed to find out we were here. The portals were popping up everywhere around Leanbox and then disappearing a second later. But soon, we were in a cave heading for the source. So, Vert was also tagging along with us because of that. I had also fully explained the situation to her, so that she would know what was going on. But she seemed more interested in my girlfriend rather than possibly stopping possible world destruction. Look, I may love my girlfriend but that won't stop me from ridding the world of Darkness.

The cave was barely illuminated by the green and blue crystals hanging from the ceiling, the pathways were jagged and very echoey.

We were slowly advancing down to the bottom of the cave. I looked at the tablet. It seemed that the destination would be towards the end of the cave. None of us were talking now either. Yep, it was that serious.

*Tmp!* *Tmp!*

We all stopped and pressed our bodies against the wall. The footsteps were coming from somewhere deeper within the cave.

"…"

"…"

We all held our breaths and listened.

*Tmp!* *Tmp!*

The footsteps were getting closer. I felt somebody take a hold of my hand and grip it tightly. It was probably Nepgear. I squeezed back. Sweat was trickling down my temple.

*TMP!* *TMP!*

Nepgear's hand was trembling. I tightly squeezed her hand to try to reassure her. I scanned the area around me. The dark vision around me turned to a bright golden color. I looked down the path. There was a figure wearing a long black cloak. The figure was too far away to see their face, so I couldn't tell who it was.

But I did know.

The figure wore the same thing as the cloaked man. It had to be him and, since he didn't know we were here, we could finally reveal who he was.

*TMP!* *TMP!*

The man was slowly inching closer. I held my breath.

*TMP!*

He stopped at where I was. The area around was too dark for him to see, but if he could also scan, he could find me. Might as well attack him first then.

*SHK!*

"…!"

I quickly slowed down time, formed a blade of energy and quickly stabbed him to the ground. I resumed time and illuminated the area around us with the balls of energy.

The fiery color was emitting a dim, fiery light that allowed us to see. The man, who had been stabbed in the chest, had been pinned to the ground. His purple eyes were gleaming.

He spat out a bit of blood. "Heh... I guess... *cough*…... you finally get to see me once again... Silver."

"…!" That name...

I jerked his body to where his whole face could be seen by the light. "…!" My hands began shaking and my vision was starting to blur. The tears started to stream down my face and onto my blood-soaked hands. "You..*sniff*..You're..*hic*..alive."

Tolise smiled. "Guess...I...am..."

* * *

 _Returning from my bliss, I glanced down to see someone looking up at me. He had gold yellow eyes, tanned skin, black hair with long bangs that covered his face and a scar on his left cheek. He wore a white tank top, a short-sleeved black leather jacket, blue skinny jeans, red biker gloves, a belt with chains hanging from it and a pair of brown cleats. Oh god, not another one of "those" guys._

 _I let out a sigh. "What do you want? I'm busy trying to enjoy time away from people like you."_

 _He let out a light chuckle. "Heh, shouldn't it be the other way around? Shouldn't it be that you're another one of my kind?"_

 _What was this guy talking about? "What are you talking about? I'm nothing like you."_

 _"Really? Then what's that thing you have inside you, hm?" He questioned._

 _I nearly fell off the tree when he mentioned "that". "How do you know about that?"_

 _"Simple. I also have one inside of me."_

 _I lunged myself towards him, but he stepped to the side right before I could hit him. I then used my hands as springs to push myself back up into the air before landing on the grass safely._

 _I looked up to face him. "How'd you do that?"_

 _He grinned. "Because, unlike you, I can control "it"._

 _I stood up and looked dead into his eyes. "Can you teach me how control it?"_

 _"I can."_

 _"Thanks! But, can you at least tell me your name?"_

 _"Sure, my name is Tolise. What's yours?"_

 _I extended my hand. "My name's Silver."_

 _He shook my hand. "Well, it's good to meet you, Silver."_

* * *

I tightened the grip on my blade and gritted my teeth. "Why?"

He smiled. Damn you and that smile!

"Why did you do this?! Why'd you attack us, why didn't you tell me you survived the Darkness' consumption, why did you leave me!?" I was practically screaming.

"…" The others just bowed their head and tried not to watch.

"WE KNEW EACH OTHER FOR SO LONG AND YOU JUST LEAVE! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD! WHY DID YOU JUST LEAVE ME!?"

"…" My tears were pouring onto his cheeks. But he still wore his faceless expression.

*CRACK!*

I punched him square in the face, causing his face to jerk to the right and blood to spew out of his mouth. I raised another fist. "…!"

He caught my wrist as I brought my fist down and he slowly turned his face to face mine. "…"

"T-Tolise?"

* * *

 **Tolise's POV**

I stared into Silver's pained, puffy eyes. "T-Tolise?"

I closed my eyes. "I... need to tell you something..."

Silver gritted his teeth. "What could you possibly have left to tell me?! HOW DO I KNOW YOU'RE NOT LYING!?"

His body was trembling. It did make sense. I was assumed to be dead and had kept myself hidden for such a long time. I had lied to my best friend. I smiled. "You're right. You have no reason to believe me, but I'll tell you anyways."

"….." His tear droplets were still streaming down onto my cheeks and he was trying his best not to burst. It did make sense why he would though.

* * *

 _*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*_

 _What was this noise? It was foggy, but I did hear a beeping sound nearby. Was I dead? Did the Darkness consume me? I was surrounded by a black void. I looked around, but I only found black. I knew my eyes weren't shut considering I could see myself. So where was I?"_

 _ **Join me...**_

 _I spun around to look for the voice that had hissed at me. Was I just imagining things?_

 _ **Don't be shy boy. Come closer...**_

 _I certainly wasn't imagining things. There was definitely a voice calling out to me. And it was coming from the direction I was facing._

 _I called back, "Who are you? Show yourself!"_

 _ **Heh, I am you. I'm everywhere around you...**_

 _I balled my hands into fist. "No, show me your physical form!"_

 _ **You don't need to see that. Because this is basically my physical form...**_

 _"What are you talking about? Stop avoiding the question!"_

 _ **Have you really forgotten that quickly?**_

 _"TELL ME WHO YOU ARE!?"_

 _The voice let out a laugh._

 _ **Honestly, you forgot about me. I guess I will have to tell you again...**_

 _For some reason, my body was shaking. "Tell me... right now."_

 _ **I am a fragment of the Darkness...**_

 _"…!"_

 _ **Yes, and you are my vessel...**_

 _"What are you talking about!? Silver drained the Darkness from me! I should be dead!"_

 _ **That's where you're wrong. Silver didn't take away all the Darkness. He missed a portion and you had survived...**_

 _"Then, where am I?"_

 **…**

 _"TELL ME!"_

 _ **You're in me...**_

 _"…!"_

 _ **The reason you're still alive is because the part Silver didn't absorb had manifested your body. And since it didn't have enough strength to plague the world, it took control of your body. You're not in control right now. The Darkness is...**_

 _"What about Silver?"_

 _ **We're in the dimension he's in and we're going to take the Darkness he has in him. But that's only part of our real goal...**_

 _"What is your goal?"_

 _ **To manifest all of the dimensions in Darkness...**_

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This chapter reveals Tolise's real name! No, it's not Tolise. His real name is Silver. Tolise was "him". But, now that you know his name, there will be no more questions about his real name. His real name is Silver. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you guys in the next chapter!**


	42. Chapter 42

Chapter 42

 **Silver's POV**

"You... were consumed?"

Tolise nodded. "Yeah, and I couldn't do anything about it."

"…"

"I spent months in that void of Darkness. I couldn't do anything. All I could do was watch the Darkness use my body and harm others."

"…" I couldn't say anything. What could I say?

"Eventually, the Darkness found you and you fought that cloaked man. That cloaked man was me, but I couldn't tell you or do anything about it because I wasn't in control. The Darkness was just too strong."

I realized that the more we fought, the more I remembered why we were such good friends. So, I started trying to break free from the Darkness. But, the Darkness was too strong for my Devil and I and I couldn't think of another way to escape. So I waited. And, eventually, the Darkness began to create portals that allowed people from our dimension to enter this one. However, creating those portals was a draining process and required a lot of energy. I figured out that if I could get the Darkness to create portals again, I could possibly escape. So, after the Darkness had created those portals earlier today, he was weakened, so, I took the opportunity to escape."

"Is that why those portals were appearing everywhere?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Then where's the Darkness right now?"

"I escaped right before it took on a physical form," he nodded down towards the depths of the cave. "It's at the very bottom of the cave."

"…"

Tolise looked me dead in the eye. "Do you believe me?"

"…" I looked back at the tablet. The portals had stopped popping up. I turned my vision back to him. "Tolise..."

"Yeah?"

I got off of him and pulled him to his feet. "I don't know what you've been through, but you always told me that appearances don't make a man..."

"But words do," he finished.

I smiled and wiped away my dried-up tears. "If you really are telling the truth, then I guess I can forgive you..."

He smiled back and I pulled him into a hug. "Because your like family to me," Tolise finished.

Tears were beginning to form in the corners of my eyelids again. "Stop finishing my sentences...*sniff*...you bitch."

He chuckled. "Good to be back with you too."

* * *

 **Tolise's POV**

I sighed and looked at the three girls and two guys in front of me. "Well it's good to meet you all."

While my wounds were being tended to, I had learned about this dimension called Gamindustri, the CPUs and how this dimension functioned. Silver had also told me about his adventures here while he was healing my wounds. But the part that interested me was the part about Hikan and about Silver's girlfriend.

"…" As he was putting Devil energy into me, I formed a wide grin and looked at him. "Silver."

He looked back at me. "Yeah?"

I nodded towards Nepgear. "How long have you been dating that girl?"

He let out a groan. "Come on! I told you to let it go. If you really are family, you'd respect my privacy."

"And if I am family, I want to make sure you're not hanging with the wrong crowd," I snapped back.

"You're just making excuses!"

"No, I'm just very protective."

"That's a fucking lie!"

Although we were arguing with each other, we both couldn't help but smile. "Y'know what? I'll respect your privacy. I'm just glad to see you again."

He let out a sigh. "You too."

Silver finished inserting the last ball in me and got up to stretch. "You really are a pain."

"Just like back then."

He chuckled. "Yup. Just like back then." He really was easy to tease if you knew how to rub him.

He got back up to his feet and leaned against a wall. "Hey, Silver."

He tilted his head towards my direction. "Yeah?"

I pointed to Hikan. "Who's Hikan?"

"I told you, didn't I? He's the CPU called Red Heart."

I shook my head. "No. I mean who is he as a person?"

Silver scratched his head. "I can't really tell you that. You know I'm not good at explaining. But I can get Histoire to answer all your questions for you."

I nodded. "Alright."

I moved my muscles around a bit. I was back to normal and all healed up. "By the way, am I coming with you guys or am I heading somewhere safe."

Hikan spoke up. "It would be best if you stuck with us. You don't seem to know your way around Gamindustri yet and if you're as strong as the Darkness that controlled you, you'll be useful."

I nodded. "Thanks. But can I have a weapon?"

"Can't you just form one out of your Devil's energy?" Silver asked.

I traced the dirt with my feet. "Well, I kind of exhausted a lot of it's energy trying to get the Darkness out of me earlier. Plus I might drain the energy you gave me too quickly. It'll probably be only good for one burst anyways."

"It's alright. Here you go," Nepgear materialized a standard katana and handed it to me.

I smiled. "Thanks," I looked back at Silver. "You got yourself a keeper."

Both of their faces grew flustered. "Tolise! Shut up!"

I let out a laugh. "Well, all fun and games aside, let's go."

* * *

 **Silver's POV**

I walked beside Nepgear who was clinging to my arm. Behind us, Tolise was making conversation with Neptune, Vert and Hikan.

She rubbed her body against mine. "Hey," Nepgear spoke in a hushed voice.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Um, what's your real name?"

"My name..." I repeated the words back.

"I'm sorry. You don't have to answer it. I was just curious."

I shook my head and patted her head. "No, it's fine. I don't want you to refer to two people as Tolise."

"So, is he Tolise or are you Tolise?"

I shrugged. "Well, first of all, my real name is Silver."

"That's good to know," she smiled. "And it's a nice name."

"Also," I pointed over to Tolise. "That's the real Tolise over there."

She looked puzzled. "Then why did you say you were Tolise when we first met?"

I scratched my head. "Well, if you didn't know, Tolise was assumed to be dead. So, I decided I'd let his legacy continue and make his name known. He did make me who I am today after all."

"But, the people would have seen your face instead of his."

"True. But I thought that, by the time this was all over, I'd reveal the real Tolise."

She pointed to Tolise. "So, your real name is Silver and he's Tolise?"

I nodded. "Yep. Like the color."

"Okay, Silver," she kissed my cheek. "I love you."

* * *

We were now nearing the end of the cave and we could see a dim light towards the end. I crept beside Tolise.

"…"

"…"

"… Hey."

He glanced over at me. "Yeah, what's up?"

"I need to tell you something later."

"About what?"

I shook my head. "Can't say yet. Sorry."

Tolise smirked. "Well, you can tell me if we survive."

I also formed a smile. "I can live with those conditions."

"Hey, quiet down," hissed Hikan.

We both quietly apologized and continued to quietly creep towards the cave's end. We were now dangerously close. There was a dim purple light emitting from a small crack in the cave. I scanned around. The area around turned gold and it left the thing in the crack shrouded by a dark aura. It had to be the Darkness. I tuned my brain to let me use seventy-five percent of my potential and we continued to slowly creep forward.

About a feet away from the crack, I motioned for everybody else to stay back while I moved forward.

"…"

"…"

*Tmp!* *Tmp!*

Facing the crack, I waited. But nothing happened. "…"

The aura was still emitting energy, so that meant that the Darkness was still here. Even though it was a bad idea, I raised my blade towards the crack and enveloped my blade in my Devils' energy.

*WHAM!* *CRASH!* *Crack!*

I quickly slashed my blade down at the crack. The crack blew up and debris flew everywhere.

Eventually, the debris subsided. "…"

I scanned again. "…!"

I swung my blade forward.

*BANG!* *CRASH!*

My blade made contact with a ball of dark energy and sent it crashing into a boulder. I scanned it. It was literally just a wisp of dark energy. So that was the Darkness in it's physical form. "Hm?"

The wisp then began to take the shape of a human, but it didn't have any physical features. It just had a black silhouette. It formed a blade made of dark matter. If this form of the Darkness was as strong as the cloaked man, then this could turn ugly. But I did have Hikan and Tolise with me now. So it could either turn ugly fast or be an easy fight.

Vert and Hikan transformed into their HDD forms and we all took a stance.

"…" The silhouette dashed towards us.

"THIS TIME, IT REALLY WILL BE YOUR END!"

*BANG!*

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **After this, I'll probably end arc two pretty soon. The reason arc two will be so short is because arc three and four will be so much longer. Arc two will probably end at about chapter 50. But, let's not talk about that right now. Also, I decided to change the tags for the characters to eliminate confusion. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you guys in the next chapter!**


	43. Chapter 43

Chapter 43

*Sk!* *Bang!*

I dashed behind the Darkness and took a slash at it's head. It spun around and performed an upward slash, sending my blade flying into the air. It then stepped forward and took a slash at me.

*Clang!* *Ffwmph!*

I stepped back and Hikan took my position. He parried the Darkness' strike, lit his blade on fire and rushed the Darkness while he was dazed.

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Boom!* *CRASH!*

While the Darkness dodged Hikan's slashes, Nepgear fired beams towards the Darkness. It kept dodging around them while still avoiding Hikan's blade. But when he dodged the last beam, the area around them began to cave in. I pulled Hikan out of the way and the Darkness was caved in.

"…"

I looked over at Tolise. He was frowning. "Silver, you know he's not dead, right?"

I nodded. "I'm not stupid."

"What do you want to do when it gets out?"

"Let's switch attackers," I looked over at Vert and Neptune. "You two are up next."

They nodded in unison. I looked back at Tolise. "And if we're last, then we can use that move we used to use."

Tolise let out a laugh. "Glad that I wasn't the only one who had loved it."

I smirked. "How could I not?"

*BOOM!* *Clang!* *SKKRRR!* *Shwing!*

The Darkness flew out of the rubble and dashed towards me. Vert blocked it's strike and their weapons pressed against each other, sending sparks flying. I jumped back and allowed Neptune to speed towards the Darkness.

Vert dematerialized her blade and flew up into the air, catching the Darkness off guard and causing it to fall forward.

Before it could hit the ground, Neptune dashed up to it and performed an uppercut slash at it.

But the Darkness caught itself and jumped back, avoiding the blade's edge by centimeters.

*Clang!* *Clang!* *BANG!* *Boom!*

Vert rushed it from behind and thrusted her lance at it. It turned around and blocked them all. After blocking multiple strikes, Vert thrusted at it one more time but stopped before it touched the Darkness' blade. A green beam of energy shot from her lance's tip and blew up in the Darkness' face.

Vert, still facing it, jumped back and Neptune stood on the opposite side of Vert. They were both in a stance and were ready to strike.

The smoke subsided and the Darkness was still standing there. But it wasn't facing Vert, it was glaring at me. Guess it really did want to take my Darkness.

*Bang!* *Clang!* *Crash!* *Boom!*

Neptune and Vert both rushed at it. Neptune got to it first and slammed her blade down against it's. The Darkness blocked her attack only for Vert to come up from behind and impaled him. "…!"

Black liquid spewed out of it and Vert threw it to the wall where Neptune slammed it deep into the ground, causing all of it's particles of dark matter to blow away from it's body. Now, there lay bits of dark dust scattered around the hole.

They both jumped back and we watched the recently-made hole in the ground.

"…"

"…"

"Silver, get ready."

I nodded.

*HHZZZ!*

Tiny particles of dark matter emerged from out of the hole and began to collect into a form of a human. The Darkness had begun to return to it's humanized form.

"Well," I activated Level Three. "HEY! NEPTUNE! VERT!"

"Huh?" They both turned to face me. "What's the matter?"

"Get out of the way!"

"Huh?" Neptune looked confused and then shook her head. "No, we can still fight!"

"That's right!" Vert nodded in agreement to Neptune's statement.

I sighed. "Neither of you can defeat it with the attacks you're using. Tolise and I will finish it off!"

I looked back at the Darkness. It was already almost whole again.

Vert crossed her arms. "Why can't you tell us how to defeat it?"

Tolise spoke up. "You guys aren't Spawns! You can't do what we're about to do!"

"Then teach us!"

It only needed to form it's head now.

I sighed. "LOOK! THAT THING IS SOMETHING WAY STRONGER THAN YOU TWO CAN HANDLE! I CAN'T TEACH YOU GUYS SO FAST! PLUS YOU TWO ALREADY GOT YOUR TURN TO FIGHT! NOW LET US FIGHT!"

They were both taken by surprise by me raising my voice. Neptune and Vert sighed. "Fine."

The Darkness was now finally fully restored.

"Tolise, let's go!"

"Yeah!"

I slowed down time and we dashed towards the Darkness. His speed hadn't been slowed down though.

*Vrrrr!* *Shhhkkk!* *Bang!* *Skrr!* *Crash!* *Bang!* *BOOM!*

He shot a black tentacle-like claw at us. Tolise jumped over it while I sidestepped. We each dug our blades into the claw and drove our blades along the tentacle while I slowly filled it with my Devils' energy. We pulled our blades back and it blew up into pieces. We continued our run towards the Darkness. "Tolise! Now!"

"Yeah!"

I poured all of my Devils' energy into me and dashed towards the Darkness. While I ran, I noticed silver flames being sucked to somewhere behind me. I smiled. Tolise was drawing in his Devils' energy. But he didn't have much time.

I reached the Darkness and got right into it's face. "GO TO HELL!" I grabbed it by it's neck and drove my blade deep into it. Then I pulled the blade out and tossed him up into the air. "SILVER! GO!"

We jumped into the air after the Darkness. Tolise's blade was enveloped by a silver aura while mine was enveloped in my red aura. We were coming from it from opposite sides and we were going so fast, that you could only see a stream of red and silver. Eventually, the silver and red lights met and we stabbed our blade into the Darkness.

The silver light began to spew out flames around us while the red crackled lightning.

It's body began to disintegrate. I took Tolise's hand and we synced our energy to merge into one. I could now feel everything he felt. We both channeled our Devils' energy and created a gigantic red humanoid creature. It was basically a giant, transparent version of Satan that had been engulfed in silver flames, had a flaming silver blade and was wearing a set of silver armor.

We controlled it to make it raise it's blade and drilled it into the Darkness' body.

An ear-piercing sound filled the air and the red and silver colors grinded into it's body, ripping it to shreds. "GRAHHH!"

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BOOM!*

Everything eventually turn to a bright white color as the Darkness slowly disintegrated and the light consumed me.

* * *

 _I was back here again. With the Darkness._

 _"Wahhh! …*hic*...*sniff*….wahh..."_

 _I heard the sound of crying and spun around. There was a baby laying on the floor. This baby had been me._

 _"…"_

 _My mother had left me. But this couldn't be a flashback. The Darkness had to be around here somewhere. All that was here was my conscious and the crying baby version of me._

 _He was stained in blood and his skin was beet red. He didn't have a name tag and wasn't wrapped in a blanket. This boy really had been me. The boy who hadn't been named and had been left to wither away. I remembered the words she had told the doctor when I was asked to be named._

 _"I don't want this Devil's Spawn of a child named after me!"_

 _"…" I had probably just received my "special" genes too._

 _I remembered I had fallen asleep once and had woken up into a dream. Except it hadn't been a dream. It had been Satan himself calling out to me. He had said I had the potential to become like him; a man of legends. At the time, I hadn't understood what he had meant. So, I unknowingly accepted his power and was reborn. I was given some of his genes but not enough to compete against his powers because of how undeveloped my body was._

 _I had awoken later that night to find my mother in the room, brandishing a butcher's knife. What had happened next..._

 _*Tmp!* *Tmp!*_

 _Suddenly, a woman, who was holding a butcher's knife appeared from the void of Darkness. That woman was my mother._

 _"…" She slowly dragged her body towards the baby me. A shadow was cast over her face. Well, I guess I could let this explain what happened._

 _"Wahhh! ….. Wahhh!"_

 _"SHUT UP BOY!" She raised the blade into the air._

 _Suddenly, the boy began to emit a dim crimson aura. His eyes snapped open and revealed his gleaming, piercing red eyes._

 _The boy stood up on his two feet as if he already knew how to._ _ **"Did you just tell me to shut me?"**_

 _"..I... h-how...you..." The mother was speechless. She was taken back by the boy's sudden movements and had dropped her weapon._

 _The boy cocked his head and laughed maniacally._ _ **"How you ask? Well, I'm just simply what you said I was. A Devil's Spawn!"**_

 _The boy took a step forward while the woman slowly backed up. "W-what...are you!?"_

 _The boy sneered._ _ **"Like I said, I'm a Devil's Spawn. But if you really want to know, I'm the Devil's reincarnation! I've been reborn and you'll be the first to feel my wrath!"**_

 _He picked up the blade._

 _"STAY BACK!"_

 _Before the boy didn't anything, my vision was consumed by the white light again. But before I awoke from my slumber, I heard the Darkness' voice._

 _"You can't escape. It'll happen eventually..."_

 _And "that" would eventually happen and I knew it. No matter how much I pleaded..._

* * *

"…" I opened my eyes to find myself in my room, staring up towards the ceiling and, of course, my body was aching. I let out a light laugh. "Of course."

This did seem to be occurring a lot more recently. I looked around. I was lying on my bed and beside me was Tolise, who was still asleep. I let out a sigh.

Since there wasn't exactly anything to do, I decided to go back to bed until I either woke up or something happened. Sleep did help heal your body anyways.

I closed my eyes and slowly drifted off back to sleep...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This chapter tells the last bit of Silver's backstory. Also, it reveals the connection Tolise shares with Silver and Silver's "Special" genes. Also, my uploading days are on my page if you didn't already know. My page will tell you why I'm not uploading or maybe some other things. But thanks for reading and I hope to see you guys in the next chapter!**


	44. Chapter 44

Chapter 44

"Hey! Wake up, Silver!"

"Mnmggh..." I rolled around on my bed.

"I said wake up!"

*Crack!* *Thump!*

I felt a force hit my cheek which caused me to fall to the floor. "Ow!" I looked up to see Tolise staring down at me. "Why can't you just let me sleep!?"

He let out a laugh. "Man, you sound exactly like the boy who I used to travel with. Always wanting sleep, right?"

I pulled myself off the floor and realized I was healed. "You feeling better?" I asked Tolise.

He nodded and formed a silver blade made from his Devil's energy. "Is this enough proof?"

I shrugged. "I guess."

He made the blade disappear into thin air and we walked out towards the living room where we found nobody around. He cast me a glance. "Well, since nobody's around, what was that thing you wanted to talk about?'

I sighed. "It involves the Darkness in me."

"Let's hear it."

* * *

We sat on the kitchen floor sipping on some cola. "...Well, I don't know what to tell you."

I had told Tolise what was going to happen with "that" and he had listened carefully. Usually, he had the answers to these types of problems, but now he seemed stumped.

I took a swig from my bottle without breaking my gaze on him. "You're telling me you can't stop it?"

He let out a chuckle. "I'm an expert on Spawns and Devils, not the Darkness," he stirred his drink and watched the bubbles fizz. "If you don't know how to stop it, then I definitely don't know."

"I guess..."

We drank for a bit longer and made a bit of small talk until we heard somebody walk in. "Oh, hey."

It was Neptune and she was carrying a bulky black bag. "Wagh!" She jumped up when she saw us and dropped the bag, revealing it's contents.

Tolise and I got up off the kitchen floor and helped Neptune to her feet. "You okay?"

She nodded quickly and began to collect the contents that had spilled out of her bag. I picked up one of the items. It was a cup of pudding.

I looked back at Neptune. "How'd you get all this pudding?"

She grinned. "Easy! I made bets with kids!"

"..."

"..."

"What?"

Tolise and I looked at her. "So you gambled with kids?"

She smiled triumphantly. "Yup!"

Tolise cast me a sympathetic look while I stared at Neptune with an ashamed expression. "Man Silver, I'll credit you that you can deal with this girl everyday," he patted my shoulder.

I ignored him. "Well, where is Histoire and your sister?"

She thought for a second then shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't see them when I woke up."

I handed Neptune back her pudding. "Well thanks, and you should try to cut back on the pudding."

"Huh!? Why!?" Neptune cocked her head at me. Maybe I shouldn't have said that.

"Well, you might get fat."

She shook her head violently and stuck out her tongue. "No way! I haven't gained a single pound. Look! I'm as slim as Jim!" She poked at her belly. It was still as flat as ever. She must have really high metabolism.

I began to walk off. "Well, you can go back to doing what you were doing. I'm going to go get Hikan. I'm bored anyways."

"Alright! Bye Turtle!" She waved me a goodbye and continued to drag her pudding bag to her room.

I looked over at Tolise. "You coming?"

He shook his head. "Nah, I just feel like lazing around all day."

I let out a laugh. "Sounds like you."

"Shut up."

He lightly punched my arm before I walked towards the elevator. Pressing the button to the floor below me, I thought about how strange it was that neither Histoire nor Nepgear was home. Wherever they were, it must've been important if they decided to get up early in the morning.

*Ding!*

The sound of the elevator reaching it's designated floor filled my ears and I stepped out of the elevator. I walked down the quiet hallway until I reached Hikan's room.

*Knock!* *Knock!*

"..." There was no answer. Maybe he was still asleep?

*KNOCK!* *KNOCK!*

"…" I knocked harder this time but was still met by silence. Maybe he was out too.

I decided to pull out my phone and ask the messenger.

 **Where is Hikan, Histoire and Nepgear?"**

 **I can't find them.**

 **Why not?**

 **They don't currently have a signal on them.**

 **Is there a way for you to find them?**

 **I can give you their last detected locations.**

 **Do it.**

I waited for a second before receiving a group of coordinates.

 **They were all together and were heading for north towards a mall.**

 **Thanks.**

I put my phone away and dashed towards the elevator. Why were they going to a mall?

* * *

"...Huff...Huff...Ah..." I was almost there!

The mall they had been going to was on the other side of Planeptune, and it was also the fanciest one. So jogging there took my breath away. If they had gone to the other side of Planeptune to some fancy mall and disabled their signals, then they must be doing something important.

Pushing past a crowd of people, I stopped at the front of the mall and gasped for air. "Huff...Huff...Why...did they come here!?"

The mall was lettered with gold paint, there were murky green marble floors, pine walls and a white roof. I took in a final breath. "Now, how am I going to find them?"

It really wasn't that hard of an answer to find. All I had to do was get into the security office and looked through their cameras' recordings. But how was I going to get there? I could just force my way into there, but it wasn't necessary and would cause unwanted attention.

"Oh?"

While I was thinking, I noticed a security officer standing right by me and he had a keycard. He blankly stared at the people passing him while he tapped his heel. Couldn't hurt to try.

I approached the man "Excuse me, good sir."

"Whaddya want kid?" he grunted.

I pointed towards his keycard and put a hand on his shoulder. "How about that card you got right there?"

He snorted. "Yeah, right. Why should I?"

I formed a wide smile and pulled out a large bundle of Credits. "Is this a good enough reason?"

His eyes grew wide when he saw the bundle of Credits, he quickly tossed me his keycard before snatching the money from me and scurrying away.

"Glad to do business with you too."

I walked up to a nearby steel door in the complex and slid the keycard onto the pad's card reader.

The pad dinged to a green color and the door clicked open. I walked in to find nobody there. All I found were the security cameras. I walked up to the screens displaying various different places. "Time to find out where they went."

I found a nearby remote and hit the rewind button to earlier this morning. The screens began speeding back and the clock slowly turned back. I clicked the play button when I noticed Hikan in a store.

He was in a gift shop with Nepgear and Histoire. They were walking out and they all held beautifully-wrapped gift boxes in their hands. Now I wanted to know what was in them. They walked out of the mall and a few minutes later, I had jogged up to the mall. Guess I had missed them.

"So they came all this way just to shop?" I shook the idea out of my head. Whatever they had shopped for, it had to be fancy and important. But I didn't know what that was.

"Well, no point in staying here." I walked out of the security room and decided to walk back to the Basilicom rather than run. "I would rather enjoy the weather."

* * *

I walked into the living area to find Neptune and Hikan arguing while Hisoire, Tolise and Nepgear were all in the kitchen. They all turned to face me once I walked in.

"Oh, Silver! Welcome home!" Nepgear greeted me.

"Hey, where'd you go earlier?"

"Oh...um..." Nepgear's face turned red and she averted her gaze from mine.

Histoire spoke up. "We went shopping."

"What'd you guys buy?"

Histoire flashed me a polite smile. "Nothing you need to worry about..."

This was really starting to irritate me. "Well, alright. Hey, Hikan."

"Yeah?"

"Are you ready for next week?"

"Next week?"

"We're going on a date together, remember?"

He began to sweat a bit and scratch his head. "Oh yeah! I'm ready. Haha..." Why the dry laugh?

This was really getting weird.

Nepgear stumbled back. "What the goodness!? You're dating Hikan?!" Nepgear looked between us awkwardly. She wasn't even crying! She just seemed confused.

I waved my hands. "No, no, no! I didn't tell you, did I?"

Question marks floated to the top of her head. "Tell me what?"

"We're going to be going on a double date with Blanc and Hikan," I ran my hand through my hair. "I guess I forgot to tell you. Sorry." I dropped my head.

She took ahold of my hand made me look up at her, pulling me into a kiss. "*Smack*... It's alright Silver," she smiled. "I actually think it'll be more fun with Hikan and Blanc."

I returned her smile. "Thanks."

She nodded and then leaned in to whisper into my ear. "Do you want to go to your room?"

"…" Wow, I didn't expect Nepgear to take charge.

She scooted back a bit and her face reddened. "O-only if you want to. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to force you to."

I took her hand. "I'll go. I love spending time with you."

She sighed with relief. "Thank goodness."

"Alright, let's go," I pulled her along with me to my room, squeezing her hand...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Testing has started for me and I've started receiving piles of homework. Although I will still upload, it is affecting my writing time a bit. But, I don't have much to say. So thanks for reading and I hope to see you guys in the next chapter!**


	45. Chapter 45

Chapter 45

I lay on the bed facing Nepgear, both of us were covered by the blankets. We had just finished doing "that" again.

Nepgear was pressed against my body. "*Yawn*... Hey, Silver."

I cast my vision down to Nepgear. She was wearing a light blush. "Yes?"

She beamed me a smile. "I love you."

I caressed her cheek and pressed my lips against her's. "*Smack*….Mmn..." I separated from her. "I love you too."

I pulled her into a tight embrace, and she nuzzled against me. "Heheheh..."

I returned her smile. "Well, that's how I really feel about you. What about you?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean how do you feel about me?"

Her smile grew wider upon realization of my question. "But I already said it, so you should already know my answer."

I let out a small laugh. "Well, yeah. But I like hearing you say it."

She let out a giggle at my statement. "Well, if that's the case," she leaned in close to my ear. "I love you with all my heart."

For now, no matter how many times I heard those words, they would always make me feel happy inside. But I did hope that those feelings would never fade away.

"Hey," Nepgear returned to cuddling with me. "When's that date again?"

"Next week. Why?"

She shrugged. "I'm just curious."

I nodded and let out a yawn. "Well, how about we continue this conversation tomorrow? I'm getting pretty sleepy."

She nodded. "Okay. Good night, Silver."

I stroked her hair and whispered into her ear. "Good night, Nepgear..."

* * *

 _Orange colors..._

 _Yep, I knew exactly where I was. "Come out already!"_

 _The wisp appeared before me._ _ **"So, we meet again, Silver."**_

 _I nodded. "That's right. But, why'd you want to see me?"_

 _The Devil let out a laugh._ _ **"Well, I just wanted to say I know your name now and talk about the Darkness a bit."**_

 _I put a hand to my forehead. "Man, that's all I've been talking about lately."_

 _ **"But you do realize 'that' will happen, don't you?"**_

 _I nodded. "Yeah, but I'm prepared for it."_

 _ **"Even if you're prepared, have you told that girl you love yet?"**_

 _"...No..." I had never told Nepgear._

 _ **"Why not? If you really do love her, you have to tell her."**_

 _I balled up a fist. "It's not that I can't or because I don't love her. It's because I love her too much to tell her."_

 _ **"I don't think I follow."**_

 _"She's someone I care so much about and I don't want to hurt her. I want her to be happy."_

 _ **"If you want her to be happy, then tell her about 'that'. Because when it actually happens, it won't damage her as badly. She'll know how you really feel."**_

 _I nodded. "I guess. I just feel like it will her hurt."_

 _ **"It'll hurt her more if she has to discover it on her own."**_

 _I sighed and dropped my head. "Yeah, your right."_

 _ **"Then, what is your decision?"**_

 _"…"_

 _ **"Well?"**_

 _I brought my head back up and formed a wide grin. "I'll protect her. Even if 'that' happens, even if I don't tell her, even if she hates me!"_

 _ **"…"**_

 _"Because I love and care about her! She's more important to me than my own life. I'll tell her, but even if she hates me afterwards, I'll still protect her."_

 _ **"But why? Why would you go so far for something as trivial as love?"**_

 _I clutched the position of my heart with my hand. "Because she's family to me, and I'll always protect my family and loved ones. I'll take away their hurt, I'll be their Light in their Darkness, I'll make their cold colors warm, and make sure they live happily!"_

 _I love them more than anything! I don't care about what people think of me, as long as I do what I feel is right!"_

 _ **"…"**_

 _"My will and choices won't ever change! The choices I make in life will be the ones that will remain there and be remembered and my will shall be the thing that lets me protect my family and loved ones! You can either agree with me or not. I don't care. That's my final motive!"_

 _ **"…"**_

 _"…"_

 _The Devil let out a laugh._ _ **"Hahaha! What a foolish one you really are!"**_ _The Devil turned into a human's silhouette._ _ **"But I admire your determination, boy. You almost fill me with it. That's what everybody in our dimension had forgotten; that your will and motives are what makes us strong. It doesn't matter how strong we are, or smart, or just plain talented. It's our will that allows us to accomplish great feats claimed impossible."**_

 _"Thank you."_

 _ **"No, I should be thanking you. You reminded me of something that we and the humans had all forgotten. We were all so consumed by our emotions that we forgot this very thing. Silver, I am at your service and will always be."**_

 _It extended it's hand out to me and I shook it with a firm grasp. "Then, let's rid this plagued world together."_

 _It nodded._ _ **"That's right. Because it's not power that makes us strong, it's will, motivation and determination."**_

 _My vision was starting to whiten again._

 _I would need all the will, motivation and determination I could conjure if I was to stop "that"…_

* * *

"One..." Huh? Why did my body feel weighed down?

"Two..." Who's counting and why are they counting!? Everything I heard was all foggy and echoey. Damn you sleep grogginess!

"I'm almost to three~!" What would happen when they got to three!? I didn't want to know!

I snapped my eyes open which startled Nepgear, who had been sitting on top of me. "Kyahh!" She fell back onto the bed and rubbed her arm. "Ugghh... That hurt Silver!"

I rubbed my eyes a bit. "Sorry. I didn't know what would happen to me when you got to three."

She smiled shyly. "Not much. I was just going to do this. *Smack*" She leaned in close and pecked my cheek. "Are you still worried?"

I shook my head. "Quite the opposite actually. I enjoyed that."

"Hehehe. I'm glad you did. Now, are you ready to get dressed and head out?"

I stretched limbs and let out an extended yawn. "I guess."

I poked her nose and grinned. "We can't stay in here forever."

She nodded in agreement. "I guess not."

We quickly found our clothes, which we had thrown on the floor, and put them back on. Luckily, we hadn't kept them on for too long.

When the two of us got out to the kitchen, Neptune was lying on the floor as lifeless as a corpse. "Ughhhh..."

I peered down at her. "Hey, what's wrong Neptune?" Her eyes were closed.

She rolled around on the floor. "There's nothing to eat!"

"Are you sure you didn't eat it all?"

Neptune cracked her eyes open and stared at me as if I was an idiot. "You really think that I can eat food that fast?!" Um, well... I guess it would take you a few days. "Because it would have taken me half a day! I just woke up!"

I facepalmed. "You're not helping your case. Didn't I tell you to cut back?"

"Um, I kinda forgot what you said the second I started eating..."

Her younger sister stared at her with an expression of concern. "Sis..."

Neptune waved her hand. "It's fine Nep. Jr! Your big sister will always stay slim, sexy and adorable!"

"But that's not the point."

"Sure it is!"

While the two siblings continued to argue with one another about God-knows-what, I opened the fridge to find absolutely nothing in there. There weren't drinks, leftovers, pudding, nothing! Yesterday, I remembered the fridge being filled to the brim with food. Now, there wasn't even a crumb of food remaining! I spun over to stare at Neptune.

"Did you really not eat any of the food?"

"Nope! All I've eaten this morning was a dozen pudding cups!" Well, that wasn't too hard to believe considering how much she eats.

I chuckled. "Seriously, that isn't hard to believe considering how much pudding you eat on a daily basis. If there was a record for Most Pudding Eaten, you would win by a huge margin. C'mon, you need to cut back on how much pudding you eat and have some veggies or something!"

Neptune stuck her tongue out towards me. "Bleh! I don't wanna eat vegetables, especially eggplant!"

Welp, there's no point in blaming Neptune, plus accusation wouldnn't bring back our food supply.

I blew out some air. "Alright. I'll just go back to the mall and go buy us some food."

Neptune eyes began to sparkle and she pressed against me. "Really!? Can you go buy some pudding while you're there?"

I shrugged. "Sure," I turned over to face Nepgear. "You want to come with me?"

She nodded. "Sure. I'll try not to get in your way."

I put a hand on her shoulder. "You won't get in my way. You're actually more of a help than a nuisance."

Her face blushed. "O-okay."

I pulled her along with me towards the elevator. "Then, let's go!"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This arc is about at it's end. Once it ends, the third arc will be about the Ultradimension events. Also _assassinguy200,_ tests aren't effecting me too badly, they just add more stress to my table. But, thanks for reading and I hope to see you guys in the next chapter!**


	46. Chapter 46

Chapter 46

"Hmhmhm~!" Nepgear happily swung her grocery bag back and forth while she hummed.

"Well, aren't you chirpy? What's got you in such a good mood?" I asked.

She flashed me a smile. "Hehehehe! I'm just happy that I get to spend time with you!"

"That's nice of you to say," I linked my arms with her free arm. "But I like spending time with you too."

We had just finished shopping for groceries, and we were now heading back to the Basilicom. I had handed Nepgear the small bag, while I carried the two large brown, paper bags with one of my arms. Naturally, she had gone all pessimistic and went on to say things like "I'm sorry that I couldn't be more of a help" or "I'm sorry. I wish I wasn't burdening you with all this". You get the idea.

But I didn't want to see her doubting herself or saying she couldn't do anything, so I had told her what I usually did.

 _"I care about you and I'll always be there for you."_

Somehow, that line had cheered her up and she was pretty happy after that.

I glanced over at her. She was still humming. Maybe, just maybe, if she was this happy, I could get her to tell me about what she had gone to buy. "Um, Nepgear."

She beamed me a bright smile. "Yes?"

"Where... did you go... yesterday?"

Her smile faded a bit and her cheeks grew red. Oh god! Please don't kill me!

She averted her gaze and began to play with her hair. "U-um... t-that's a secret... Sorry, I can't tell you...yet," Nepgear murmurred.

Yet? What was she going on about? "What do you mean by yet?"

Her blush deepened. "U-um... I... ooh... I can't tell you yet... but..."

"But what?"

"I-I'll... show you."

I cocked my head in confusion. "Why not just tell me instead of showing me? Wouldn't it be easier?"

She shook her head. "It's a surprise! If I tell you, then it'll ruin the surprise."

I nodded. "Can you at least tell me when you're going to show me?"

Her face was practically burning up. "T-that's... That's a secret!"

She unlinked her arm and buried her face into her hands. Man, whatever it is, it must be really embarrassing. I patted her on the back. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel so embarrassed."

She shook her head. "No, it's not your fault. It's just... thinking about it is embarrassing."

I nodded. "Sorry, I'll try not to press you for an answer. I'll just wait."

Nepgear sighed in relief and flashed me a smile. "Thank you. *Smack*"

I returned her kiss with a smile. Seeing her happy made me happy and that was all I needed.

* * *

I popped my head out of into the living room. "We're home!"

Nepgear was right behind me. "We're home!"

"Shhhh! We're trying to read," shushed Hikan.

Sitting on the living room couch, was Hikan, Tolise and Blanc all reading books quietly. Wait, why was Blanc here?! And why is Tolise reading!? That guy never reads!

Nepgear bowed her head and whispered quietly, "We're sorry."

We set the groceries onto the kitchen countertop and plopped down onto the floor beside the three of them. "Where's Neptune?" I asked.

Tolise jabbed his thumb towards Neptune's room. "She's asleep. So, we took the opportunity to read quietly."

Understandingly, I nodded. "I see. Then why's Blanc here?" I nodded towards her.

Hikan answered for her. "I invited her here to enjoy some quiet reading."

"Why not just go to a library?"

"Why would I go to someplace public? Reading at home is much more comfortable," he chuckled. "Y'know, when it's actually quiet."

I let out a chuckle. "Ain't that the truth." You never really could have quiet days with Neptune around, but at least she made things fun.

I turned back to Tolise. "Hey, where do you sleep now?"

He pointed to Hikan. "I sleep on the same floor as Hikan. My room is right across from his."

"I see..."

Hikan tossed both Nepgear and I a book from a nearby stack. "Here, read something. You might find something you actually enjoy."

Nepgear opened her book up and began to quietly read, but I was curious about mine. Examining the book carefully, I noticed that the sky blue binding had a cover drawing of two clouds; one black, one white. I flipped the book around and read the summary. Wait, I know this book. It's _that_ book by John Green! Though I had never read it, I knew what it was basically about by listening to so many school girls talking about it. I sighed. Although I didn't have a grudge against the guy or even reading the book, I just never thought about reading it. Plus, considering the girls that did read it would talk about it so much, I didn't want to be part of _that_ crowd of people. I preferred to stay unnoticed.

I opened the book to the first page and took a deep breath. Now, it was time to see how great _The Fault in Our Stars_ really was...

* * *

I closed the book after I finished the two hundred fiftieth page. Now I understood why people loved the book so much. Not only was this book great, but the man who wrote it was a genius! I got up and stretched a bit. Hikan and Blanc were still reading, but Nepgear had gone to her room and Tolise had gone to go take a shower. Noticing the orange tint around, I glanced out the window. It was now the evening and the fiery ball of light was illuminating the many buildings of Planeptune. It was truly a beautiful sight.

*Grrrr*

I rubbed my stomach. I hadn't even noticed how hungry I was. Blanc and Hikan glanced up at me. "You hungry?" Hikan asked, setting his book facedown.

I nodded. "I think I'm going to make something to eat. You two want some?"

Hikan turned back to Blanc. She simply nodded before returning to her book. "Yeah, we'll have some grub." Hikan answered.

Taking off my jacket and revealing my bare arms, I nodded. "Alright, I'll make some for the others too if they show up."

I walked over to the kitchen and began looking through the ingredients, which had been placed in the fridge earlier by Nepgear and Histoire. I could sure make a variety of recipes. Maybe keeping it simple wouldn't be such a bad idea. I took out some peanuts, pork sausage and a bag of rice. I measured enough cups of rice that would last the nine of us and poured the rice into a pot to be cleaned. While the water was warming up, I took the chance to chop up the sausages. I hope they like the rice.

* * *

"Thanks for the food!"

"Time to eat!"

While Tolise and Neptune were competing to see who could eat the most rice, the rest of us were enjoying our rice. "Wow! This taste so good!" Compa exclaimed.

IF shrugged. "It's good," she handed me her bowl. "Can you get me some more?"

I nodded, filled her bowl back up and handed it back to her. "How have you two been?"

Compa smiled innocently. "I've been getting a lot better at treating people's boo-boos!"

"I've just been gathering intel and making sure nothing strange is going on," she let out a deep breath. "It's quite tiring." IF turned her attention back to her meal.

"Hey! You can't take that much rice! You have to eat the standard amount in every bowl!"

"I don't have a standard amount!"

Histoire watched at Neptune and Tolise with a worried expression. "What have I done?"

"Neptune seems to be enjoying herself," I commented.

Histoire could only continue to stare. "That's what's worrying me."

I shrugged and let out a chuckle. "At least this way Neptune has somebody to focus herself on instead of all of us."

Histoire smiled weakly. "That is true, I guess."

We watched the scene unfold before our very eyes.

Tolise was trying to eat his rice while fending off an attacking Neptune. "Stop trying to attack me!"

"You cheated!"

"You cheated first! You're the one who decided it'd be a great idea to put more rice in your bowl before you even finished eating!"

"It's called using your brains!"

"It's called not playing by the rules!"

I chimed in. "I'm pretty sure neither of you play by the rules."

"You're just jealous that I can eat more than you and at a faster pace! I'm the main character! I'm supposed to be able to eat a crap-ton of food and never get fat!" Guess they didn't even hear me.

"That's something you shouldn't be proud of!"

I turned my attention away from them and lightly patted Histoire's small head. "I'm sorry for what you have to deal with."

Her veins were popping out. "I-it's...fine..."

I averted my attention to Hikan who was having a quiet chat with Blanc. "Hey, Hikan."

His attention went to me. "Yeah, what's up?"

"Are you really fine with going on a double date?"

He nodded. "As long as Blanc is."

I looked over at Blanc's doll-like face for confirmation. "It's fine," she replied quietly.

I guess I better get confirmation too. Here's something all of you who are in a relationship or have been in one should know. The woman is always in charge, you can't fight them because they'll always end up winning. But that's just me. I'm not trying to offend anyone.

"Hey, Nepgear."

She finished her bowl of rice and faced me. "Hm?"

I took a napkin and wiped away a grain of rice from her cheek. "Are you really fine with going on a double date?"

She nodded sincerely. "Of course! It'll be more fun that way!"

Confirming that was her decision, I nodded. "Alright."

As we all ate in our usual chaos, I could only think about one thing.

 _I better buy a tuxedo..._

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **The date** **will begin in two chapters, and it will bring us closer to the second arc's ending. Right after, arc three will begin because of how long of an arc it will be. But, thanks for reading and I hope to see you guys in the next chapter!**

 **P.S.**

 **Also, go check out the first chapter of the fanfiction _The Journey _ by _assassinguy200_. I would really appreciate it if you help the guy out because it's always important to spread love and he's a cool guy with cool ideas.**


	47. Chapter 47

Chapter 47

"Hmm..." Man, who knew shopping could be so difficult.

Hikan walked over to me wearing a worried expression. "Um, Silver?"

I stopped examining the clothes and turned my attention to Hikan. "Yeah, what's up?"

He ran his hand through his hair. "Don't you think...this might cost a bit of money?"

"What do you mean?"

His voice was nervous. "Are you sure you can afford this?"

I shrugged. "I think I got enough Credits to buy a few suits, meals, and maybe some gifts or something," I stated as I pulled out another tuxedo and showed it to Hikan. "What do you think about this one?"

He smiled. "That looks like some expensive, fancy shit."

I let out a laugh. "Is it even possible to make shit fancy?"

Walking over to another clothes rack, he let out a chuckle. "I don't know. Maybe."

We were our buying tuxedos for our dates because it was tomorrow and neither of us had gone to buy formal wear yet. But since Hikan didn't think he could afford anything, I decided to tag along with him to pay for his and my outfit.

The tuxedo I had chosen was the normal black color. To accompany that, I had gotten a white button up shirt, a black bow tie, black dress shoes, a brown, leather belt and a pair of black suit pants. Man, I never understood why the color black was so traditional for tuxedos. But, it did match.

After a bit more of looking around, I went to find Hikan to see if he had finished his shopping. He was sitting in a lounge chair, waiting for me with his clothes in hand. "It's about time you got done."

"Well, I'm not a professional shopper, so I'm not exactly the fastest."

"Whatever," he handed me his clothes. "Here, if you let me see your clothes, I'll let you see mine."

I simply nodded and we swapped clothes. Hikan's outfit consisted of a grey tuxedo jacket, a black button up shirt, a checkered blue and black tie, a black leather belt, grey suit pants and a pair of black dress shoes. His outfit seemed to be similar to mine except for a few things here and there.

Hikan finished observing my clothes before looking back at me. "It took you a long time to look for the stereotypical black tuxedo."

I swiped the clothes from him and, before heading to the cashier, said, "I already told you that I'm a slow shopper."

He let out a muted laugh and murmurred. "Yeah, slow shopper."

I simply rolled my eyes as the cashier got my total. After showing me the price, I pulled out the required amount of Credits and handed them to her. Great, I'm back to having practically no money again.

After the cashier bagged our clothes and handed them to me, I helped Hikan to his feet and we walked out of the store.

Hikan let out a long yawn. "Man, that was so boring."

"Why would you find it boring? I took longer than you did."

He shrugged. "I don't know. I guess shopping was never my thing either."

"I guess..."

We continued to walk through the bustling streets. Man, was it always like this?

I turned back to Hikan. "Hey, Hikan."

Hikan, who had been spacing out, snapped his attention back to me. "Huh, what's up?"

"What did you do while you were in my dimension?"

He put a finger to his chin to think. "Umm... I don't think I did much."

"What do you mean?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I mean I didn't do much."

"I still want to know. Just tell me what happened."

He groaned. "Fine..."

* * *

 **Hikan's POV**

 _I remember feeling what I thought was my death._

 _I had just helped Nepgear finish Arfoire off, and it left us both tired. However, she still had one surprise in store for us._

 _Nepgear collapsed to the ground. "My...my body..."_

 _The ground below us began to collapse. "What the hell!?"_

 _"What the goodness!?"_

 _I looked around. The entire land mass was crumbling at a rapid rate. "Shit!"_

 _Arfoire spoke her last words. "If I can't defeat you myself, then you'll all go down with me!"_

 _The other girls joined us. "Hikan! Nepgear! Are you two alright?" Neptune asked._

 _I nodded. "Yeah, but let's just worry about getting out of here before we fall with this place!"_

 _The girls all nodded in chorus. "Right!"_

 _"Kyahh!"_

 _We spun around to see Nepgear hanging from the edge of a collapsing hole. I lunged at her and grabbed her arm. "Gotcha!"_

 _"Hikan. No..."_

 _"What!?"_

 _She shook her head. "I'd just slow you guys down. If you save me here, then you won't survive."_

 _Oh my god. Out of all the times to be pessimistic, you choose now. "NO! DON'T BE DUMB! YOU'RE GOING TO RETURN TO PLANEPTUNE AND CELEBRATE YOUR VICTORY WITH YOUR FRIENDS!"_

 _"But—"_

 _I sighed. "Look, if you're really that insistent of burdening this, then I'll take your place."_

 _"Huh?!"_

 _I quickly pulled her up and threw her close to where the other girls stood, while the hole was slowly inching closer and closer to my feet. I untransformed myself and looked back towards Blanc. "Hikan..."_

 _I smiled at her. "I promise you that I'll someday return."_

 _Her body was trembling and she shook her head. "No..."_

 _I nodded my head. "I'm sorry, but I care more about protecting you guys than about my life. You guys mean the world to me. You saved me, and I want to repay the favor."_

 _I turned my back to them and clutched my snowflake necklace. 'Wait for me, Blanc,' I thought. I began to slowly walk forward._

 _"HIKAN, DON'T DO IT!"_

 _"NO! STOP! YOU CAN COME BACK WITH US!"_

 _"PLEASE! DON'T LEAVE ME!"_

 _I clutched the necklace even tighter. Hearing their pained cries hurt me so much. I closed my eyes. "Thank you guys for everything. Now, go. If you guys don't make it out of here alive, I just wouldn't be able to live with myself."_

 _I looked back at them and waved. "Seeya later."_

 _I jumped into the hole._

 _"NO!"_

 _"HIKAN!"_

 _I fell into the pitch-black hole. I felt the force of gravity pulling me down and my body was cutting through the air. I felt the wind rush up pass me. The darkness of the hole was the worst part. I couldn't even tell where I was going._

 _"Gh!" I clutched my pounding skull._

 _My body began to tighten up and bang while my skull was throbbing so hard that it felt like it could split into two._

 _"AGGHH!"_

 _I curled my body into a ball and gritted my teeth. My body felt like it was being smashed, but this was a pain that could only torture; not kill. The banging suddenly grew stronger and so did the throbbing headache. "GAHH!"_

 _I squeezed my eyes shut and grinded my teeth harder against each other. I felt like I was feeling thousands of blades being slowly inserted and pulled out of my body. My mind was beginning to blank._

 _I began to see a white light._

 _So, this is where I die..._

 _I was happy that I had met Neptune, IF and Compa. They had saved me from my Hell. I was happy that I met Blanc. But, even though I promised her that I would return, I guess I wouldn't._

 _The white light consumed my entire vision..._

* * *

 _"…"_

 _"Do you think he's dead?" Huh?_

 _"Maybe. Look at the tears on his clothes and his bruises. He could be another Spawn killed by 'those two'."_

 _"WHAT! REALLY!? Then, shouldn't we be running?"_

 _"Relax. Those two always leave right after they kill a Spawn anyways. So there's no chance of them finding us." Was I alive?_

 _I peaked my eyelids opened. Two very blurry figures were looking down at me._

 _"What the Hell!?" They stumbled back in surprise as I slowly pushed myself up. Guess I really am alive._

 _"How's this guy not dead!? I thought you said 'they' killed him!"_

 _"I-I thought they did!"_

 _My vision cleared up. Before me, stood two men dressed in all-black leather jackets, biker boots, leather jeans, and greased-back brown hair. The one on the left was shorter and had skin lighter than the one on the right._

 _"Um, hey."_

 _"GAH!" The shorter one jumped back further. "Y-You're alive?!"_

 _I moved my body a bit. I felt as if I hadn't been scratched at all. "Yeah, I actually feel fine. Why?"_

 _The taller one's eyes were bulged. "A-Are you a Spawn?"_

 _"What's a Spawn?"_

 _"What do you mean?! Everybody knows what a Spawn is!"_

 _I shrugged. "I guess I don't know."_

 _The two of them looked at each other and nodded. The short one spoke up. "Listen, you're not a Spawn, right?"_

 _I shrugged again. "I don't even know what a Spawn is."_

 _He nodded. "Then, do you have anywhere to stay?"_

 _I thought for a moment. Considering I didn't even know where I was, I didn't. I shook my head. "Nope. I don't even know where I am."_

 _The taller one let out a small laugh. "You are a strange one."_

 _"I'm not strange! I just don't know anything about this place."_

 _The shorter guy raised his hand. "Then, how about you come live with us?"_

 _"Really?"_

 _"Sure. Since you don't seem to know a damn thing about this place, we'll help you out."_

 _"Alright."_

 _The two of them outstretched their hands. "Then let's be good acquaintances."_

 _I shook both their hands. "Fine by me."_

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **The reason this chapter came out today is because I had enough time to make it. This chapter tells about what happened to Hikan in the past. But, if you want to read about Hikan, go read the fanfic by _assassinguy200_. Also, the date will start next chapter. But that's all I got to say. So thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **P.S. Hikan Masato was the OC created by** ** _assassinguy200_** **. He has a story about him, but he also let me use him.**


	48. Chapter 48

Chapter 48

 **Silver's POV**

Hikan pointed towards a nearby gift shop. "Mind if we go in there for a second?"

I simply shrugged. "We've got the time. Why not."

We walked to the gift shop and began to look around. As I examined the variety of items, I glanced over at Hikan who was eyeballing some pudding. I called out to him, "Hey, Hikan."

Putting the candy he was looking at back on the shelf, he turned back to me.

I flailed my arms. "Why didn't you finish telling me your story?!" People around began to cast me suspicious glances. Maybe that was a bit too loud. I let out a dry laugh and tried to act casual. "Haha... Man, puberty really does change how you act."

The shoppers muttered under their breath for a bit before returning to their shopping. I let out a sigh. Why did I say that?

A little boy pointed his finger towards me. "Mommy, what's that man talking about?"

She warned him in a hushed tone. "Don't look at him. You don't want to be associated with people like him."

The mother began to quickly drag her son away. "Mommy, what's associated mean?"

"…"

Great, now anyone who was in this store would warn others about me just because of my display of stupidity. Either I'm a complete fool or these people are fools. So much for stopping this dimension's Darkness.

Hikan scooted over to me and asked in a hushed voice, "Um, you wanted to know why I didn't finish my story, right?"

I nodded silently.

"Well, after those people saved me, I discovered they were Spawns. They told me about your dimension, and they helped me hone my skills. Eventually, I told them about my life and they shared theirs. After a bit of time, Histy found a way for me to get home and I returned here. And I assume you know the rest."

I nodded again. "Yeah, I remember..."

He placed a hand onto my shoulder. "Great, then how about we head back home?"

"Sure."

* * *

Sleeping seemed like an almost impossible task to do. Usually, I would fall asleep the minute my head touched the pillow. But now, I felt like I was an insomniac. I never had this issue before. Now, I just couldn't sleep! I rolled off my bed, flicked on my bedroom lights and laid down on the mattress, staring up blankly at the shiny silver ceiling.

 _Am I just nervous?_ I thought.

 **Yup, you're feeling anxious.** What the...

I closed my eyes and went into my thoughts. My mind was a fiery red color instead of the usual blank black. In my mind were two wisps; one crimson and one orange. I chuckled.

 _"What do you guys want?"_

 **"Well, you weren't sleeping and you asked a question, so I answered it."**

 _"I didn't want you to answer my question. I just wanted to think on my own."_

 _ **"That's not your choice. You should've known this when you had two Devils sealed into you."**_

 _"But becoming a Spawn was never my choice."_

 _ **"Yeah, but sealing me into you was your choice."**_

 _I let out a groan. "Look, if you're going to answer my question, then please do so. I just want to go to sleep!"_

 **"It's simple. The reason you can't sleep is because you're too anxious right now."**

 _"But I already knew that. Tell me something I don't know."_

 _ **"How about this? The reason you're anxious is because of tomorrow."**_

 _"Tomorrow?"_

 **"That's right. You're going on that date tomorrow, aren't you?"**

 _Then it clicked. "Oh yeah! You're right!"_

 _The orange wisp chuckled._ _ **"Man, for someone who's so great at fighting, you don't seem too smart when it comes to this love business."**_

 _"Shut up and just tell me how I can get to sleep."_

 **"Easy. All you have to do is just think about something relaxing while you're trying to rest."**

 _"What if that doesn't work?"_

 _ **"Simple. We'll just force you to sleep if you can't fall asleep within a hour."**_

 _"You two can do that?!"_

 **"Yes. I just never told you because it was never important to tell you about."**

 _I nodded. "Then let's give it a shot."_

 _"…"_

"…"

I opened my eyes to find the same sight as the one before I left. Hopping off my bed, I flicked off the bedroom lights and rested myself back onto the bed. "Think about something relaxing..."

Trying to think about something relaxing, I closed my eyes once again. The first thing that popped into my head was Nepgear. I smiled. Thinking about her made me feel warm inside, and I thought about why I loved her. She was so special to me.

I guess if I am having a date tomorrow, I would have to wake up early to get everything ready. As I thought about it, my energy began to leave my body...

* * *

 **Hikan's POV**

*Knock!* *Knock!* *Knock!*

"Mmggh... Go away..." I tossed around in my sheets.

*BANG!*

A bright white light shined into my eyes. "Ah!"

"HIKAN! WAKE UP! WE'VE GOT A DATE TODAY AND YOU'RE GOING TO GO HELP GET OUR DATE READY!"

"Gah!"

*Thump!*

I was pushed onto the cold, metal floor. I opened my eyes and looked up. Silver was staring down at me. He sighed. "C'mon Hikan. We have a date today and I don't want to screw this up."

I smiled. "Look, I don't want to mess this date up either, but why do we have to wake up this early in the morning?"

He put his hands to his sides. "We need to get ready. There's stuff to get prepared."

I let out a groan. "Ugghh... But sleep is so much better!"

Silver let out a sigh and started back to the door. "Alright, I'll go. Just don't come crying to me when Blanc gets mad at you and ends up breaking your heart." Slowly, Silver left to room.

"Wait!" I lunged at him, catching his feet and causing him to fall to the floor with me.

"Wagh!"

*Thump!*

Pushing himself off the floor, he turned back to me. "I thought you weren't coming."

I scrambled to my feet and brushed some dirt off my pants. "I'll come. Just... let me change clothes first."

Silver silently nodded and went to stand by my door while I went back into my room to change clothes.

* * *

We were now in Lowee walking to some fancy hotel. I sighed. "Why are we going to a hotel?"

"Because," Silver explained. "I'm going to get myself a room for tonight for...y'know." His cheeks grew a small blush.

I nodded. "Well, I guess I'll get a room too."

"Same reason?"

"Yup," I peered over Silver's shoulder to see what he was looking at. "By the way, where else are we going to after this?"

The screen showed a map pinpointing multiple areas. "After this, we're going to go check out a toy store, an amusement park, a normal park and a certain area." I'm not even going to question why we were going to a toy store, but it did seem like an interesting idea. But what did he mean by a "certain area"?

I cocked my head. "What kind of area?"

He formed a grin. "You'll see..."

I watched him with curiosity. "Is it a bad place?"

Silver shook his hand and handed me his phone displaying a restaurant number. "It's not a bad place, but I do need you to call this number."

"Why?"

"Because we have to book a reservation at that restaurant. No date is complete without a restaurant."

I shrugged. "Fine. Do I book it for four people?"

Silver gave me a look that said ' _Is that really a question?_ ' and I dialed the number.

I hope everything will go well tonight...

* * *

 **Silver's POV**

I looked at myself in the mirror, angle from angle, side to side and front to back. I let out a small laugh. "I do look pretty nice if I do say so myself."

Night had just approached. I was now wearing my tuxedo, I had flattened my hair and had eaten a breath mint. Some would say I didn't need to do all of this. But I felt like I had standards to live up to and I was going to meet them all. Before I walked out of my bedroom door, I took a deep breath.

 _ **Good luck, Devil boy.**_

 **Try not to choke.**

I smiled. "You guys better not ruin this for me."

 **Don't worry. We're compatible.**

I muttered under my breath. "You better be."

I walked out of my bedroom and headed to the elevator to find Hikan waiting for me in his grey tuxedo. "Man, you seem spiffy and really anxious," he commented as he looked me over.

"And you seem way too calm," I commented.

"It's fine," he said, pressing the button to the first floor of the Basilicom. "I'm just going to have the mindset that I'm just hanging out with Blanc."

I shrugged. "That's not a bad idea," I wiggled my finger at him. "But, if you're too casual, it could end up not being a date at all."

He crossed his arms. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

*Ding!*

The elevator door slid open to reveal Nepgear, who was in her HDD form, sitting on one of the Basilicom's benches, waiting for me.

"Ah! Silver!" Nepgear jumped up from her seat, revealing her attire.

"…" I was left speechless.

She wore a dark pink, strapless dress with a flower ornament attached to the top left of her dress that resembled an Old Blush rose. Her hair was neatly brushed with a small white butterfly hair clip and her bangs had been neatly combed to reveal her entire face. She also wore a pair of lilac diamond-studded earrings. Also, she wore a pair of white, flat heels, a silver necklace and a silver bracelet on her left wrist.

"…" She was beautiful. I gulped.

She averted her gaze from mine and blushed. "S-Silver! Why are you just staring at me? It's embarrassing..." She squirmed around.

I snapped back into reality and scratched the back of my head. "I-I'm sorry. I-It's just that...y'know..." I trailed off.

"What is it?"

"It's just that...you look so beautiful."

Nepgear blushed a deep red. "O-oh... U-um..." Nepgear began to play around with her fingers.

"Hey," I walked up to her and took her hand. "I honestly think you're beautiful."

She smiled shyly. "T-thanks, Silver."

I simply smiled back and turned back to Hikan. He was now in his CPU form and was giving me the thumbs up. His CPU outfit had changed to his grey tuxedo and his spiked hair had been gelled to allow his usual comb over.

I laughed a bit. "Hikan, you really do look ready for this date."

He grinned. "Better safe than sorry."

"Right..."

I walked out of the Basilicom with Nepgear and Hikan following close behind. He materialized his wings. "So, we're going to Lowee, right?"

"That's right."

Nepgear glanced up at me. "Huh? But how are _we_ going to get there? I know Hikan's going to fly, but are we going to walk there?"

I burst out laughing, collapsed onto the ground and tears began to form. "Hahaha!"

She puffed out her cheeks. "What's so funny?"

I wiped the tears from my eyelids and got back onto the my feet. "I'm sorry. It's just funny."

Hikan, slowly floating up into the sky, cocked his head at me. "What's funny?"

I began to pulse out balls of my Devils' energy out into an open area. "It's funny that you thought I wouldn't be prepared for this. Of course we're not going to walk."

Nepgear watched the energy with curiosity. "Then what are we going to do?"

I formed a wide grin. "Watch this."

*KZZZ!* *Bang!* *Vrrrr!* *Bing!*

I commanded all the energy to combine. They joined together and a white light enveloped the clustered energy. When the light faded away, there stood a fiery chariot with two flaming Pegasus attached to the reins.

Nepgear's eyes gleamed. "Wow! That's so cool!"

I looked back at Hikan. "Like you said, it's better to be safe than sorry."

He crossed his arms. "Yeah, but this might be overkill."

I climbed aboard the chariot and pulled Nepgear up. "Nah, I like to ride in style."

We both floated high into the night sky. "Then how about we get going?"

"Better than wasting time."

*Bang!* *Crack!*

I cracked my reins while Hikan dashed through the clouds and we flew off into the night sky...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And so, the date begins and the next two chapters will be about the date. During the next two chapters, it will alternate between Hikan's and Silver's perspectives. But, thanks for reading and I hope to see you guys in the next chapter!**


	49. Chapter 49

Chapter 49

"It's so beautiful," Nepgear watched the stars in amazement while she clung to me.

I smiled. "It is. But so is the moon."

"The moon?"

I let out a bit of a laugh and pointed up towards the moon above us. "Look."

When she saw the sphere of light, she smiled. "You're right. It really is beautiful."

"Hm?" I felt a drop of water touch my nose. The closer we got to Lowee, the more drops of water that fell down. It was actually a bit cold. It was snow.

Nepgear began to shiver and hugged her body. "It's cold."

"I can fix that," I said as I produced some more energy. Since I didn't bother to bring a coat with me, I simply just created one using my energy. It was a warm white coat. I offered the coat to her. "Here you go."

"Thank you," she said as she quickly put the jacket on and thanked me with a quick kiss.

"Don't worry, I'll buy you some real clothes later when we're in Lowee."

I turned my attention to Hikan who was flying beside us. "…" He flew in silence, seeming to be thinking about something. He must've been deep in thought if he couldn't notice the snow landing on him.

I snapped at him. "Yo, Hikan."

He seemed to break from his trance and looked over at me. "Sorry. What'd you need?"

I pointed up towards the snow. "Well, for starters, there's snow covering you."

"Really?" Hikan looked back at himself and noticed the snow. "Oh crap! When did this get here!?"

I stared at him in amusement. "It's been there. You just haven't been noticing it."

Hikan sighed. "Well, I guess I'll fix this snow problem now."

*FFSHH!*

His wings were enveloped in flames and became fire wings, melting the snow. It did look beautiful especially in the night sky.

"Ah, that's much better!" Hikan grinned widely.

"Now that's a cool trick," I stated as both Nepgear and I stared at him in amazement.

Hikan shrugged. "I don't know. I've never done it before because I never saw a point in doing it."

I pulsed out a bit more energy and made it emit heat in between Nepgear and I. "Useless sure, but at least it looks cool."

"Maybe."

We landed down in front of Lowee's Basilicom to find Blanc, in her CPU form, waiting for us in a one-strap white dress, white gloves and a pair of white high heels. Also, she wore a red scarf and an open white coat. Once she noticed us descending, she formed a small smile and walked out to greet us.

"Hey, easy," I pulled hard on the reins as we touched the ground.

"It's good to see you two. How have you two been?" Blanc asked. Wow, I never expected her to ask that.

"We've been fine. Yourself?"

She waved the question away. "I've been alright. Though Rom and Ram have been trying hard to get on my nerves."

I nodded. "I see. Well, now you don't have to worry about them tonight and just have fun."

A chuckle escaped her mouth. "Yeah, that sounds nice."

Nepgear looked into the Basilicom. "Wait, if you're not watching them, then who is?"

"The Basilicom staff are watching them. It shouldn't be a problem. The two of them have already gone to bed and I told the staff if anything happened to them, I would make sure they were killed."

I let out a dry laugh. Knowing her, I wouldn't hold it against her. "Well, that's good to hear."

Hikan landed onto the ground and expelled his wing's flames. Noticing Blanc, he smiled and waved at her. "Hey Blanc, how are you doing?"

Blanc just shrugged and walked to Hikan's side. Hikan turned to me. "Shall we get going?"

Linking my arm with Nepgear's, I nodded. "Let's go. There's no time like the present!"

* * *

We were heading to our first stop; the restaurant. But, instead of catching a ride, we decided that it'd be nice to walk. The snow was still floating down gently and I had cast an energy barrier above us so that snow wouldn't hit us. Walking through the nation's streets at night time while it snowed was truly a beautiful sight. The street lanterns were glowing brightly, illuminating the streets, shopping districts' colorful lights were lighting up areas around with rainbow colors, couples walked around together, friends were hanging out, the snow was gently drifting to the ground and kids were either playing in the snow or trying to catch snowflakes with their tongues. It truly was a warming sight to witness. Now I understood why so many liked Lowee.

"Hey, Silver," Blanc spoke up.

I averted my attention from the area around and turned to Blanc.

"Are we going to a fanc—mhgh!" Hikan quickly covered her mouth before she could finish asking her question. She probably knew exactly where we were going considering she was this land's CPU.

Nepgear, puzzled, stared at me. "Huh? Where are we going?"

I continued to stare at Blanc with a look that said _don't tell her_. "It's a surprise. Right, Blanc?"

She nodded and Hikan took his hand off her mouth. "Yeah, I don't know where we're going at all," she said in her most truthful tone. Man, I just wanted it to be a surprise.

I turned back to face forward and burst out laughing. "Actually, I think it's fine for you to know now."

Nepgear stared at the building, or rather restaurant, standing before us with a mixture of amazement and wonder. "This place looks so beautiful and fancy!" She spun her head to me. "Are you sure you can really afford this?"

I pointed my index finger at Hikan. "I've been saving a supply of Credits for something like this and Hikan's paying part of the bill, so I think we'll manage."

"Silver..." Nepgear put her hands to her chest. "Thank you..." She said as I held the door open to allow the others to enter the restaurant first.

Upon seeing the interior design of the building, Nepgear clung tightly to my arm. "Oh Silver, are you sure about this?"

"It's fine."

The restaurant was lit by multiple, glass chandeliers hanging from the cream-tiled ceiling, the flooring was made of a soft carpet-like green and black checkered material, the white walls were aligned with brightly-lit lamps and there were several rows of pine wood tables covered by white table covers. Waitresses were rushing around trying to satisfy the hoard of people that filled the restaurant. It seemed pretty busy.

We walked towards the counter to found a lady standing behind with a book of reservations. She peered up at us. "May I help you people?"

Hikan nodded. "We have a reservation."

"And what's the name under?" She asked as she began to flip through the pages.

"Hikan," he answered.

She nodded. "For four people, correct?"

Hikan and I nodded at the same time.

She slid out of the counter. "Right this way please," she said as she began to lead us through the many tables of friends and couples.

She led us to a staircase that led higher up into the building. The second floor had a design similar to the first. But the only difference was that the walls were replaced with glass panes, the chandeliers had been replaced by dimly-lit red lights, the table covers had been changed to a red color and each table had a candle in the center.

She led all of us over to a table right beside a window and left us to look at our menus. I helped Nepgear take off her coat and pulled her seat open for her, while Silver mimicked the gesture for Blanc and helped her remove her winter clothing to reveal her dress.

"Silver, you're so sweet!" Nepgear complimented

I shrugged. "What can I say? I'm supposed to be a gentleman."

We each took a menu and examined the food choices. I looked through the drinks and dishes. While I did think these prices were high, Nepgear was clearly more worried about them than I was. However, Hikan and Blanc both seemed fine with the prices. I rested my hand on Nepgear's to assure her. She looked over at me. "Silver..."

I put a finger to her lip to silence her. "It's fine. I'm buying and I'll order for the both of us if it makes you feel better."

She nodded. "O-okay. I can't thank you enough Silver."

The lady reapproached us. "Alright, are you guys ready?"

We all nodded in unison. The lady turned to face me first. "I'd like two Chef's Steak and a glass of Syrah wine."

She scrawled down my order and waited for Nepgear's order. "I'm taking one of his steaks and a glass of ice water," she said as she pointed towards me.

Hikan spoke up and pointed to Blanc. "And I'd also like to share a large plate of spaghetti with her," he quickly added. "We'll also take two Colas. "

Nodding, she finished scrawling down our orders and took our menus. "Alright, I'll have your food out soon."

We nodded as she left.

* * *

 **Hikan's POV**

I took Silver's share of the payment and tossed our Credits onto the table beside our bill, making sure to leave a large tip. Helping Blanc put her winter clothes back on, we exited the restaurant, thanking the waitress, and the four of us returned to walking through the snowy streets of Lowee. After spending approximately a hour eating, the streets had become more jammed with people. I took a hold of Blanc's hand.

I tapped Silver's shoulder causing him to turn around. "Make sure to stay close to Nepgear," I told him. He nodded and linked his arm with Nepgear.

Blanc averted her attention from the crowds of people and her focus returned to me. "Where are we going now?" She asked in a quiet voice.

Before I could say anything, Silver spoke up. "We're going to go enjoy the quietness of nature," he answered.

She nodded and, for a second, smiled. "Okay."

* * *

We were now out in an open area of a forest, sitting on the snow while we talked and watched the shining, frozen lake. Originally, we had planned to go to a park, but all of them were, for some reason, infested by people. So, we settled on going out to an actual forest. Blanc was tracing her finger in the snow while she rested her head onto my shoulder.

"Hey Blanc."

She glanced up at me. "What is it?"

I poked at her cheek. "Are you having fun yet?" I asked.

She returned to tracing the snow. "The quietness is nice," she quickly added. "But I do also enjoy spending time with you three. You people actually have real, functioning brains."

Silver and Nepgear, who was sitting in between Silver's legs, both smiled at Blanc's statement. "I hear you," Silver said. "Sometimes you just need a break from the others, right?"

She nodded. "Right."

Picking up a nearby rock, I chucked it towards the frozen lake.

*Crk!*

The force caused a crack to form in the ice and land halfway across the lake. Silver laughed at this performance and picked up his own rock. "Man, let me show you how it's done," he said as he lobbed his rock towards the frozen lake.

*Sploosh!*

His rock, not only reached the other side of the lake, but also smashed a huge hole into the ice. I looked over at him. He smiled at me. "You cheated, didn't you?"

He raised his hands into the air. "You caught me," he said as his grin grew wide. "In all honesty, if I hadn't put any energy into that throw, it probably would've landed at exactly the same place yours landed at."

"Heh, shut up and watch this!" Blanc suddenly said as she picked up a pebble and threw it towards the lake.

*CRASH!* *BLOOSH!*

Nepgear, Silver and I held our jaws open. "…"

"…"

"…"

Blanc turned back to us and jabbed a finger into my chest. " _That_ is how you throw."

"Y-yeah..." I couldn't say much. The pebble she had just thrown hadn't passed just the edge of the lake, but it also cut a gaping line through the ice and stopped after having the force cushioned by the dirt.

Silver looked in between Blanc and I. "Remind me not to get on her bad side," Silver told me. I just silently nodded. "Yeah, sure."

"How about we also get to our next spots before we cause any more trouble?" Nepgear suggested.

We all nodded in unison and scurried away from the forest to our next destination. So much for peace and quietness.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **The next chapter will be the last chapter of arc two and we'll move onto the third arc afterwards, which will be about Re;Birth 3 and some other events. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	50. Chapter 50

Chapter 50

After we had left the lake, Silver had gone off with Nepgear to go buy her clothes and to go do their own thing, leaving Blanc and I to also do what we liked.

The two of us were now back on the streets of the snowing Lowee, where I had bought Blanc some ice cream. "Hikan, where are we going?" Blanc asked as she finished her cone.

I shrugged at her and asked, "Do you like amusement parks?"

Upon hearing this, she frowned. "That's a stupid ass question," she cursed at me. "You know I don't like loud places, especially amusement parks and rides."

I patted her head. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry."

She slowly removed my patting hand. "It's alright. Do you have anywhere else you want to go?"

I scratched my head. "Well," I dropped my head. "I do. But I kinda wanted to spend a bit of time doing something else before we go."

"Do you have anywhere in mind?" She asked in a thoughtful tone.

I nodded. "I do have one place."

"Oh? And what is this place?"

"You're favorite place," I answered.

* * *

Blanc flashed me a bright smile when we neared the building we were going to. If you hadn't guessed it, it was a library. Since I didn't have any other way of passing time, I decided going to Blanc's favorite place would be a great place to go considering how much she enjoyed reading.

We entered the library and the old lady at the counter greeted us. "Good to see you Lady Blanc, Lord Hikan."

We both waved at her. The first time I had met her was when I had been trying to study up on CPUs and I couldn't navigate my way through the shelves of books. So, she helped me find a book and had always helped me ever since.

"What can I help you two with today?" She asked politely.

"We're just here to read, nothing special," I said.

She nodded. "Alright. Oh, Lady Blanc!"

"Yes?"

The old lady pulled out a tablet and handed it to Blanc. "That new visual novel game you wanted to play was released today, so I got it just for you!"

Blanc's face lit up. "Really!? I can have it?!"

The old lady nodded. "Of course! You two have been good people so enjoy!"

"Thank you so much!"

Blanc began to run off to her own corner of the library. "Hey, wait up!" I called after her. She seemed to be as excited as a child on Christmas morning.

I found her sitting on a sofa reading to herself quietly. "Hey, Blanc," I took a seat right beside her.

"Hm?" She didn't look up. She was completely wrapped up in the novel.

"Mind if I read with you?"

Blanc glanced up at me. "Really? You wouldn't mind?"

I shrugged. "Not really. I don't mind reading with you."

She scooted closer to me. "Then let's take turns reading this."

I nodded and we began to read.

* * *

After an hour had passed, the snow had stopped falling and we were now heading to our next destination. Since I wasn't going to a toy store or an amusement park like Silver, I had somewhere else in mind. So, we had gone out into the nature again to go somewhere else.

"Are we there yet? This walk is really starting to piss me off!" Blanc stated.

I continued to pull Blanc along. "Almost, we're just about to reach it."

Blanc puffed out her cheeks. "Mmgh..."

"Ah, we're here!" I said as I pulled Blanc along.

"Hey! Wait u—!" Blanc caught her breath when she saw the sight.

We were now at the edge of Lowee looking out towards the sea. The wind blew to our left, there was a aroma of salt water, the bright moon shined down upon us and caused the sea to shimmer while the tides slowly drifted from side to side. I looked over at Blanc. "Well, what do you think?"

Her lips were quivering and she was left speechless. "…"

"Blanc?" I waved a hand in front of her.

"Hikan!" She lunged towards me and wrapped her arms around me tightly.

"Gah! Hey, don't surprise me like that!"

She shook her head and buried her head into my chest. I returned her embrace. "But it's just that I'm so happy that I met you and grew to know you! I'm just glad you're always there for me and to cheer me up!"

I patted her head. "Why wouldn't I be there for you? You're my friend and I already told you that you're life is more important to me than my own and that you mean the world to me."

Blanc looked up at me. "H-Hikan..."

She pressed closer against me. "Hey, Blanc."

"Yeah?"

"I never officially told you this, but..." I leaned in close to her face. "I love you."

"Hika—Mmf!" Before she could utter another word, I pressed my lips against her's and was filled with a warmth that rose up my body. Her lips were soft and sweet, making me want to crave for them more and more.

After what seemed like an eternity, Blanc pulled herself away. Her face was flushed red. She touched her fingers to where I had kissed her. "Hikan..."

"Hey," I took your hand. "What are your feelings for me?'

She glanced back up at me. "My feelings..."

I nodded. "You can say no if you want to."

She shook her head and her blush deepened. "No... that's not it. I... I... l-love...you...too," she murmured quietly.

I was filled with a warm feeling and pulled her into a tight hug. "Hey! H-Hikan! Let go!"

I shook my head. "I can't let go of you now. I'm just happy that you share the same feelings."

She returned my embrace. "I-I'm happy too."

I pulled away from her and sat down at the land's edge, with my feet dangling. "Life really is full my mysteries, isn't it?"

She took a seat right beside me and beamed me a bright smile. "It sure is!"

I took a hold of her hand and she rested her head on my shoulder as we looked out towards the starry, night sky...

* * *

 **Silver's POV**

After we had separated from Hikan and Blanc, Nepgear and I had gone off to do our own thing. I had bought Nepgear a pink winter jacket and a pair of white, wool mittens. We had just gotten out of an amusement park and were heading towards our next dating spot. I glanced down at Nepgear, who was happily eating some cotton candy.

"Are you enjoying yourself, oh lovely one?" I asked her.

She flashed me a bright smiled. "I am! Thank you for taking me out Silver!"

I returned her smile. "The night's not over yet. As one once said, 'The night is still young'."

She giggled at this statement. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she picked off a piece of her cotton candy and offered it to me. "Here, have some."

"Thanks," I took the bit of cotton candy and popped it into my mouth.

"Does it taste good? Nepgear asked.

I gazed deep into her eyes and caressed her cheek. "Not as good as you."

Her cheeks reddened a bit and she averted her gaze. "Silver, don't say that!"

"Why not?"

"Because, it's embarrassing," she quickly added. "And corny."

I nodded. "Well, I guess you're right."

* * *

We reached the front of a Toys "R" Us store. Nepgear gave me a funny look. "Why are we at a toy shop?"

I formed a grin. "You'll see, and I think you'll enjoy why too."

Still confused, Nepgear walked with me into the shop.

There were shelves lined with a wide variety of toys. There were cars, cards, Legos, plastic figurines, robots, board games, plushes and even some things I didn't even know. I pulled Nepgear along with me, weaving through the crowds of young children and we reached the section filled with stuffed animals.

Nepgear still gave me a confused gaze. "I still don't understand. Why are we here?"

I smiled and went to a row aligned with giant, stuffed bunnies. "Because," I said bringing the bunny to Nepgear. "This is my present to you, Nepgear."

Nepgear gasped as I held out the bunny to her. "I-I...um...it's so adorable! Silver, are you sure about this? You're making me feel guilty!" She stated as she began to squirm around.

I smiled at her. "Well, the point of this date was to make you happy, and, seeing that you love this bunny, I think I'll buy it for you just to see you happy."

Tears began to form in the corner of Nepgear's eyelids. "Silver...*sniff*….Thank you."

* * *

We were now at the final destination before heading for the hotel. I had put the stuffed bunny in our hotel room and had made sure nobody would try to steal it.

After creating some platforms high into the sky with some energy, Nepgear and I were now high in the sky, touching the clouds. We sat together on the platform holding hands as the wind blew pass us. While Nepgear was giggling and playing with my fingers, I played with her hair and looked out towards the large, bright moon.

Nepgear let out a giggle. "Hey, Silver."

I switched my attention to her. "Yeah, what's up?"

She began to trace the platform with her finger. "I had fun tonight and I wanted to thank you for making it such a fun night."

I chuckled. "Well, it's still not over and I still have one more surprise for you."

Nepgear smiled. "Really? What is it?"

I smiled and got to my feet. I offered my hand to her and pulled her up along with me, taking off her winter attire. It had stopped snowing a bit ago and it was now warm enough to where you didn't need to wear winter clothing. I pulsed out two balls of energy and commanded one to float above the two of us and the other to play a song.

The music began to play. I had chosen an instrumental for the song "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran. I had always thought it was a perfect dance song for couples. I offered my hand to Nepgear. "Care to dance?"

She placed her hands onto my shoulders and nodded. I put my hands to her waist and pulled her close to me, leaving us inches apart. I began to slowly sway from side to side with her as the ball above us glowed a dim yellow light onto us. I wasn't exactly the best at dancing, but, at some point in my life, I had picked up the basics of dancing and knew the basic dances. This was one of them. Nepgear didn't seem to be a good dancer either, but she did seem to know what she was doing. She pressed her body closer to mine.

"Silver, thank you for tonight. I had fun."

I twirled Nepgear around before pulling her back in. "I thought I already told you. T—"

"Goodness, I know 'The night's still not over', right?" She cut me off.

I chuckled. "Yeah, I guess you can read me like an open book now, can't you?'

She giggled. "I'm think I'm getting better at it."

"Terrifyingly better," I stated.

I spun her around once more and, this time, pulled her into an embrace. "Nepgear..."

"Yes?" She leaned towards me.

"I love you."

"Me too..."

Our lips touched and I was filled with a rising warmth. Her lips tasted sweet and felt soft and smooth. The longer I held our embrace, the harder it became to separate. We pressed against each other harder. She guided one of her hands up my back and up to my head. "Mmn...mm...ah."

We began to exchange kisses. "Mmn...*smack*….fwah...mf...mmgh."

After we exchanged a few more blows, we finally separated, gasping for air.

I pulled her into another hug. "Nepgear," I planted a soft kiss onto her forehead. "I love you with all my heart."

She returned by kissing my cheek. "I love you with all my heart too."

We gazed deep into each others' eyes as we touched lips once again, while the moonlit, starry night sky shined upon us...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And this marks the end of the second arc! I just want to thank all of you for reading this far into this novel. I'm surprised we've made it to fifty chapters. I wanted to thank all of you who read this fanfic and I hope you will continue to. Also, if you have anymore ideas or suggestions on this story, please feel free to leave a review or by PMing me. Seriously, all your support really is appreciated and I wouldn't be here without your support. But, that's enough mopey talk. Arc three won't begin tomorrow, but on Tuesday with a double upload. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	51. Chapter 51

Chapter 51

"*Yawn*...Mmg..." Sitting upright on the bed, I woke up and rubbed my eyes. The room I was in was dark but was faintly lit by the natural lighting shining in through the cracks of the blinds. It was probably still early in the morning.

I glanced to the left of the bed. Somebody was under the covers, sleeping quietly. I peeked under the covers to examine who it was.

"….Haa...Haa...Mmgh..." It was Nepgear.

I gently rubbed her back and draped the covers back over her. "Morning to you too," I whispered to her. After we had had our little dance, we had gone to the hotel room that I had booked for the night. By the time we got there, it was midnight. But, the two of us were still full of energy, so we went into our room and had some "fun time", but we had ended up having fun all through the early morning. Around the time of dawn, we both decided to stop and go to bed.

By now, sunrise had just passed and it was probably a hour or so after. I quietly slid from under the bed covers and looked around for my close. Why was it that when we "played around" in bed, that I could never find my clothes afterwards? I glanced under the bed, feeling disappointed at myself and snatched the pair of undergarments. The places I leave these things.

* * *

A few hours had passed and Nepgear and I had just arrived back at the Basilicom.

I popped my head into the living room. "We're home!"

"H-hello...Silver...and...Nepgear," Histoire greeted us, but she was trembling and staring out the window.

Nepgear tapped my shoulder. "I'm going to go check on sis," she said before grabbing a pot of tea and shuffling off towards her room.

"Hey, Histoire, are you alright?" I asked.

"…" No response.

Just then, Hikan entered the room with Tolise. When they saw Histoire they both tensed up. "Uh-oh," Tolise and Hikan said in unison.

I looked back to them. "Why is she shaking and why did you two say 'uh-oh'?"

They gulped. "She's pissed right now," Hikan whispered into my ear.

"How pissed?"

"If you make contact with her, she'll unleash all her bottled-up rage on you."

I shuddered at the thought. "Hey, Histoire," I called out to her in my most friendliest tone.

She snapped back. "What!?"

I backed away as she headed towards Neptune's room. "So, is there any chance that the reason she's so angry is because of Neptune?"

"That's always the reason," Hikan said as he rubbed his temple.

I jogged up to Neptune's room door just in time to see Noire, Vert and Blanc all scramble out of Neptune's room, closing the door behind them. Nepgear and Neptune were probably still in there. I pressed my ear against the door to listen in on their conversation.

The first person I heard was Histoire. "Silence! Your task now is to listen intently to my lecture. The primary duty of any CPU is..." And here comes the lecture. Damnit, I just got here! Well then, roll the time skipper!

* * *

"...is how all CPUs should be. Let us end today's lesson here," Histoire finished. Finally! I never knew a person could lecture for so long!

I then heard Nepgear's voice. "Sh-she's finally done..."

Neptune's voice followed. "Geh. My legs are sawing tingly logs. Can anyone spare me some Paralaxin?"

"W-wait, Neptune! I can't seem to stand up either..." Nepgear said.

The angry Histoire spoke up. "And just how long do you two intend to crawl around on the floor like infants?" She questioned.

"But we just said our legs are asleep..." Nepgear protested.

Neptune backed her up. "Histy, you talk more than a phone. Lookit, my cute thighs are quivering like jelly or whatever," Neptune stated.

Histoire raised her voice again. "Did you learn nothing from my lecture about how a CPU ought to behave and speak?"

"Y-yes," Nepgear answered quietly.

"Then I assume you have both taken a hard look at yourselves and now understand it's importance, yes?"

"Uhh, if a CPU has to be honest, I gotta admit that less than half even entered my ear hole." Neptune answered honestly. Well, at least you were honest.

"Shhh! Neptune, don't admit to that," Nepgear warned her.

Histoire's voice was raised even higher. "If you understand, then... Get out there and do your jobs this instant, ladies!" Her voice boomed.

"Ahhhh!"

"Kyaaaah!"

I backed up just in time to witness Neptune and Nepgear burst through the door and dash down the hallway to the elevator. Geez, I never knew Histoire could be that scary. A second later, Histoire floated out of their room, sighing. "Why must I always have to lecture them? Why can't those two do their jobs properly like the other CPUs?"

I spoke up. "I guess it's not in their nature."

Histoire turned back to me. "Perhaps. If Neptune had the will to work like you or Hikan or Tolise, I think Planeptune would have much higher shares. But, sadly, that is not the case."

I gently patted her small head. "Will it make you feel better if I go with them?" I asked.

She gave me a small smile. "Yes, I would be very grateful if you did that."

I nodded before dashing after them.

* * *

"Hey, wait up you two!" I sprinted after them.

When both Neptune and Nepgear heard my voice, they both stopped and spun their heads back. "Silver? What are you doing?" Nepgear asked.

"Nah, you don't need to ask. If he comes along with us, Histy will have to believe we did our work! All we have to do now is wait a few hours before returning to the Basilicom! Bam! We won't have to do a single job! Thanks for coming Silver!"

I bopped her on her head. "Get real. You're going to have to do at least one quest before we head back. I'm not just going to let you head back without serving your punishment!"

Neptune slumped over. "Ugghh, man this blows!"

I patted her head in an attempt to try to comfort her.

Neptune returned to talking. "I never thought she would blow us outta there with her voice! She was seriously serious, huh?" She looked between the two of us, expecting an answer.

"Yes. If we don't get some real work done today, she might grow even more upset!" Nepgear stated.

"See Neptune, I told you!" I said to her.

She simply stuck out her tongue. "Pffft. I guess we gotta. I'd rather nap, but let's hoof it and beat stuff up for a bit." Hoof it?

"You'd rather nap? Really... ?" Nepgear asked worriedly.

I smiled at her. "It's fine," I looked back at Neptune. Maybe if you actually try with your work, I might buy you some pudding afterwards."

Neptune's eyes began to sparkle. "Really?"

"Maybe..."

* * *

The three of us were now all in a forest. Our quest was to slay a few Dogoos, which was really easy.

Nepgear materialized her blade and pumped her fist into the air. "Okay! Work, work, work! Let's do our best, Neptune!" She seemed awfully cheerful.

"Heh, you're fired up, I see. I detect happiness in your voice, too!" Neptune smiled at her little sister.

Nepgear blushed a bit. "Ehehehe. Yep! It's been a while since just the two of us have gone out together." Oh, maybe I shouldn't say anything and just let the two of them talk.

Neptune cocked her head. "Oh...really?"

Her little sister nodded. "Really. I mean, all you do is sit there and play with Noire and Vert and Blanc...and not me," she frowned. "Then Silver will always have to take your role." Wait, so am I just Nepgear's backup?!

Neptune let out a dry laugh. "Hmm, yeah. I guess I'm guilty. Sorry-dorry. I've failed as your big sister, making you feel lonely."

Blushing even more, Nepgear smiled and shook her head. "No, you haven't failed at all. Because I waited patiently, I now have you all to myself today!" Nepgear said as she hugged her sister. Wait, so does she love Neptune more than me?! I'm her boyfriend! That's just not fair or right!

* * *

"Yah!"

*Shk!*

I stepped up towards a Dogoo and thrusted my blade into it, causing it to instantly burst into millions of gel bits.

*Slash!* *Chk!*

"Take this!" Nepgear quickly cut through two Dogoos. Their gel blew out of them and they fell to the ground.

"Take this!"

*Bash!*

Neptune slammed her blade down on the remaining Dogoo and it blew up into billions of bits. Once all the Dogoos were killed, her eyes widened. "NO WAY!"

We walked over to her. "Goodness! Th-that made me jump. Why would you shout like that?" Nepgear asked after recovering from her shock.

Neptune bounced up and down and pointed to an icon above her that read: Level 1. "My level! Did you see that!? I'm back at Level 1! Why, why, why!?"

Nepgear smiled at her sympathetically. "Um, well, you've been pretty lazy for years on end, so maybe that could work as an explanation?" Truth hurts I guess.

Neptune began to flail her arms and whine. "But, but, but! You're totally not Level 1! This situation just went from rad to total bummer!" Neptune dropped her head.

"I've dropped several levels, too! But I did handle a few odd jobs while I was caring for you, so..." Nepgear trailed off.

Her whining continued. "I feel like I've been hacked. I was totally Level 99 last time! Maybe more with DLC!" Neptune cried out. Man, you love breaking that fourth wall. She seemed like she was on the verge of tears. She sniffled. "I can't believe I'm weaker than you! Your big sister's dignity has been dig-dugged down to—"

Nepgear cut her off and patted Neptune's head. "I-it's okay! I sure do love my strong Neptune, but even the weak Neptune is still my sister."

Neptune curled up into a ball and began to whisper to herself. Seriously, did Neptune and Nepgear switch personalities!? "Great. Now my little sister is trying to give me pep talks..."

"Aw, but if you really give it your all, you'll be stronger than me in no time flat. Right?" Nepgear, I think you're just making the situation worse.

Neptune continued talking to herself. "And now she moves into some motivational speaking," Neptune burst out into tears. "Fine, fine! I guess I'll get my rear gearing!"

And like that, we were back to slaying Dogoos again while Neptune continued complaining about her level...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And so begins the Ultradimension arc. This arc and the fourth arc will probably be the longest arcs. But, there will be longer chapters again because of how long the Ultradimension arc is. This chapter was just a short little introduction into it. Anyways, thanks for reading once again and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	52. Chapter 52

Chapter 52

I took the little amount of Credits we received for completing the easy quest. A hundred Credits. Wow, I could probably buy a pack of gum with that. I slid the money into my wallet and walked out of the guild to meet with Neptune and Nepgear, who were talking amongst themselves.

"Since we worked so, so hard on that quest, we should go visit your friends at the other nations!" Neptune proposed.

"But, um, wouldn't that be slacking off?" Nepgear asked timidly.

Neptune grinned widely. "It's not 'slacking off', it's just a peacekeeping mission that comes with snacks and games!"

I sighed. "That's not true." I poked at her forehead. "You just want to go laze around in the other nations while receiving snacks and playing games!"

She averted her gaze and scratched her head. "Hehe... Ya caught me."

Nepgear watched her sister in wonder. "Neptune, is that true?"

Neptune clutched her stomach as if she had been injured there. "There it is! Nepgear's patented gaze-o-suspicion! Do you really not trust your sweet, loving big sister!?" She sniffled.

Nepgear shook her head. "No, no! Well, I guess you're right. If it's only a quick visit, Histoire shouldn't have a problem," Nepgear looked back at me. "That's fine, right?"

I sighed and patted her head. "You really do succumb to peer pressure way too easily. But I guess it's fine."

The girls chorused. "Yay!"

"Gyah!" I fell to the ground as Neptune glomped me.

"Yay! And since you're here, Histoire will have to believe we did our work!" Neptune nuzzled against me. Um, you do realize I have a girlfriend, right?

"Hey, no fair!" Nepgear puffed out her cheeks. "I want to snuggle with him too!" Wait, what!?

"Ah!"

Nepgear lunged towards me and also began to snuggle with me. "Hehehe. Snuggling with sis and Silver is so nice!" Well, these two didn't seem to be getting off anytime soon.

"Hey you two! We're still in public! We can't do this with people around!" But it was too late. People had already begun to crowd around us.

"Look mommy! It's that one boy from the store!"

The mother glared at me with a twisted expression. "Disgusting," she snarled. Why do I keep meeting you two!?

"Look at that guy," a teen said, pointing at me. "Guy's got two chicks on him!"

Another teen beside him slapped him on the back. "Boy's got game!"

An old man also glared at me. "Kids these days..." he muttered. There goes my reputation...

* * *

We were now walking over towards Leanbox. Neptune was frolicking happily, while Nepgear and I were watching her from behind. "Hm?"

Nepgear looked over at me. "What's wrong?"

I shook my head. "Nothing's wrong. It's just that I noticed something different."

"Different?"

I called out to Neptune. "Hey, Neptune!"

She stopped prancing and turned back to me. Now I could see what was different. Neptune's attire had changed. Instead of her usual hoodie dress, it was now a short jacket with the same design. She wore a dark purple dress with lilac lining along the bottom. She still wore her purple plug-like strings, the jacket was still buttoned by the N button, her choker remained the same and she now wore two white bracelets with spikes coming off of one side. Besides that, the rest of her attire remained the same.

Pointing a finger towards her, I asked, "Did you get new duds Neptune?"

She grinned and puffed out her chest. "Hehe!" Neptune twirled around to reveal her outfit. "Pretty cool, right? I bought it myself!"

"Really?"

Nepgear shook her head. "No, Histoire made her buy new clothes."

Neptune frowned. "Yeah," she pointed towards her boots. "Except I couldn't find any new shoes because none of them were my size."

I crossed my arms. "I see..."

* * *

"Hello~! Anyone home?" Neptune looked around the Leanbox living area. "Vert? Where are you?"

"Maybe she's doing her work?" Nepgear suggested.

Neptune chuckled. "There's no way Vert's working," Neptune opened the door to her room and pointed in. "See?"

We peered in to fine Vert at her computer, wearing her headphones, playing an MMO. Come on now.

Vert let out a sigh while she mashed on her keyboard. "This cooldown timer won't let me rebuild here in time. I must take a different approach."

Nepgear ran her hand through her hair. "Well, she's sitting at her PC, so she must be doing some work with spreadsheets or documents, right?"

Oh Nepgear, you innocent little girl. "Yeah, that's not true at all."

Neptune nodded in agreement. "That's statistically impossible," Neptune tapped Vert's shoulder. "Hey Vert, you're all up in some MMO, aren't you?"

Vert's eyes were glued to the screen. "Yes, unfortunately, you've come at a rather bad time. I entered a castle siege right before your arrival. I will be preoccupied for another three or maybe four hours." Damn.

"I...see," Nepgear said.

Neptune squinted her eyes and stared at Vert with disappointment. "So let me get this straight. We were just playing games at my place, and then you run home to play some more games?"

"Won't you upset Chika if you play games so much?" Nepgear asked.

"Yeah, by the way," I looked around. "Where is she?" I don't need her trying to flirt with me again. Especially since I now have a girlfriend.

Vert simply smiled. "There's no need to worry about that. Chika will not be returning for some time."

Nepgear seemed shock. "Huh? Did she go somewhere?"

I spun back to Vert. "Yeah, what happened? Did she get sick?"

Neptune grinned. "Did she finally get tired of trying to get your attention, oh magical Senpai?"

Vert shook her head. "Not at all. She's still trying her hardest to grab my attention. Right now, she is visiting a factory that produces Leanbox hardware. She mentioned a labor strike. They seek better pay, or they said they've promised to jump off the factory roof. So Chika is desperately trying to dissuade them from taking such drastic measures."

Man, that sounds kind of like my dimension. Mostly in the American region of it. Minimum wage was a bitch there.

"Huh!? Why?!" I demanded.

"Yeah," Neptune agreed. "This really isn't the time to be taking over another castle or whatever!"

Vert returned to statement with a glare. "Whatever do you mean!? With her gone, I can burn through some games without hearing any complaints."

Nepgear stared at her with disappointment. "I question your priorities sometimes." Me too Nepgear, me too.

Vert's screen flashed and she returned her attention to the screen. "Ah! I was so busy talking, that I failed to heal my comrades properly. I apologize, but will you please allow me to concentrate?"

Neptune sighed. "Welp, that's that! Let's all log out of this party!"

Nepgear nodded. "Okay, let's not disturb her."

Before we walked out, I glanced once more at Vert. I worry about this girl.

* * *

"Here we are! Lastation! The land of Tsunderes!" Neptune exclaimed as we approached the Basilicom doors.

"I think that may just be Noire and Uni," I said.

We opened the doors to the Basilicom and quickly rode the elevator up towards the second floor.

*Ding!*

"Hello!"

"We're barging in!"

Uni peeked her head out of the hallway to peer at us. "Oh! Hey, Nepgear. And hi to your big sister, too." Uni smiled and waved at us.

She glanced over at me and she blushed before turning away from me. "H-hi Silver, how have you been?" Uni asked shyly. I don't see why you're being so shy. Wait...

I waved back at her. "Hey, Uni. How have you been with your sister?"

She gave a small smile. "We-We've been getting along..."

I nodded. "That's good to hear."

*Smack!*

Neptune smacked me on the head and I fell forward. "Ow! Why'd you do that!?" I glared back at her.

"Well, seeing as I'M the main character, I think it's time for me to return to the dialogue!"

"But I've only had a few bits of dialogue."

"Doesn't matter! I'm the main character, end of story!" Yeah, _you're_ the main character.

Nepgear flashed Uni a bright smile. "It's been a while, Uni."

Neptune motioned her arms to face Uni. "Dudette, I've told you to drop the big sister thing. It's like you aren't actually talking to me! So just call me Neptune, 'cuz that's my name!"

Uni bowed her head apologetically towards Neptune. "Oh, sorry. I can't quite get used to saying it, um... Neptune..."

I looked around. "By the way where's Kei? I don't see her anywhere. Did she quit?"

Uni frowned. "No, she didn't exactly quit. She just said something about it being too peaceful for her to run the Basilicom and being a waste of her talents. So, she left and went and started her own business. Eventually, she got so caught up in it that she's never here at the Basilicom anymore."

"And Noire?"

Uni sighed. "My sister's locked herself in her office and is working. She said something about having to make up for lost time."

Nepgear smiled. "That sounds like Noire all right. She can manage to play but find a way to get her things done."

Neptune waved off Nepgear's statement. "Meh. She's always so serious. That's why she and I are on different wavelengths!" Yeah, but not in the good way.

Uni just stared at Neptune. "Maybe you shouldn't brag about being lazy," she suggested.

Neptune stared at Uni with sympathy. "Man, you must be pretty busy now Mini-Noire. Now you gotta do the Oracle's work in her place!" Well Histoire has to do her work and yours, so I think Histoire has a rougher time. But I still do feel bad for Uni.

Uni shrugged. "It's nothing special. I mostly just stamp and push a bunch of papers. It's not that difficult. Anyone could do it," she stated. Everyone except for lazy people like Neptune. "When all's said and done, my sister handles most of it anyways."

"…"

"…"

Neptune and Nepgear stared at each other. Nepgear nudged her sister. "You know, Neptune... Hearing this makes it sound like..."

Neptune nodded and finished her sister's sentence. "Yeah, compared to these two workaholics, we look pretty pathetic." And now you realize the truth.

"Anyway, Nepgear," Uni broke the two Planeptune girls from their trance. "What brings you to Lastation?"

Nepgear let out a dry laugh. "Oh! Well, we were getting some work done ourselves, but we thought we'd come here to take a break..." That's not the best thing to say.

Uni's jaw fell. "Huh!? You came all this way for a break? Jeez, I'm too busy to be your host for a reason like that!"

Nepgear bowed her head. "Y-you're right. I'm sorry. We'll leave as soon as we can." Girl, you succumb to peer pressure way too easily.

We headed for the elevator but heard Uni call out to us. "W-Wait! You're making it sound like I'm kicking you out or something. At least let me offer some drinks or something," Uni complained. "Oh, I just happened to buy a two-player game recently. If you want, I guess I can let you try it." Uni, you're Tsundere is showing.

Nepgear cocked her head. "Are you sure that's okay? You were just saying how busy you wer—!"

Uni's face reddened. "Wh-What!? Are you saying that you don't want to play it with me?!" This makes me want to cringe.

Nepgear shook her head furiously. "No, I'd love to, but..."

Uni took Nepgear's hand. "Then stop trying to turn me down! C'mon, let's fire it up!"

"O-Okay."

As the two Candidates scurried away, Neptune shook her head. "Sometimes, I wonder if the Lastation sisters are clones..."

"You're not the only one Neptune, you're not the only one..."

Neptune peered over at me. "But hey, it's great that Uni has Nepgear for a friend! That's one more than Noire has anyways." Wow, poor Noire. Maybe I should hang out with her sometime. It'd be nice to catch up with her.

* * *

"Man, I've always loved Lowee and it's snow," Neptune stated as she kicked over a pile of snow.

Our last stop was Lowee and we were just outside the castle.

Neptune hurried up the stairs to Lowee's Basilicom and kicked the door open as Nepgear and I caught up with her.

*Bang!*

"Heya, Blanc! We wanna hang out, so come hang!"

*Vsh!*

As Neptune walked through the front door, an object flew past her, missing by only hairs. "What the!? I think that was the sound of the wind getting it's head chopped off." I swear, the more time that passes, the less sense you make Neptune. "Whoa!"

*Ga-thunk!*

Another object hit Neptune square in the head and she fell to the floor as Nepgear and I helped her to her feet.

Nepgear examined her sister. "That oversized book hit you right on your head! Neptune, are you alright!?"

"Yeah! Bulls-eye! You're such a slowpoke big...sis...huh?" A voice came from our left.

Turning to that direction, we found Ram staring us down.

Nepgear pointed towards the gigantic book. "Ram, are you responsible for that?"

Ram seemed surprised. "Oh, you're not Blanc," she waved Neptune off. "It's fine. It's only Neptune anyways."

Neptune slowly pulled herself up. "Nep Jr., methinks you should be worried about this giant bruise on my head!"

Nepgear returned to aiding her sister. "I'm sorry! How's it feeling!"

"Honestly, I feel like I just almost died," Neptune jabbed her finger towards Ram. "C'mon Ram. Your pranks are starting to get too violent for my tastebuds!"

Ram stuck out her tongue. "Bleh! It's your fault for being such a bad dodger!" The logic of children.

"Hm? What's going on? Ram, you're being too loud."

We all turned to the new voice. It was Blanc, who had a children's book in one hand and her other hand was holding Rom's hand, who walked close by Blanc.

Rom's face lit up when she saw Nepgear. "Oh! It's Miss Nepgear...!" Rom smiled shyly.

Nepgear waved at Rom. "Hello, Rom. What were you and Blanc up to?"

"She was...reading a picture book to me..." That's cute.

Blanc stared at the three of us. "You guys chose to play with Ram? How brave of you all."

Neptune flailed her arms. "You call THIS playing!? Look at the dent in my skull!" Neptune complained as she pointed to the bump on her head.

"I wasn't playing! I was trying to do a prank!" Ram corrected.

Nepgear simply laughed dryly. "It always turns out like this when we come here."

Rom gave a small nod. "Maybe, but...I like the excitement..." She glanced at Nepgear with unturned eyes. "Miss Nepgear, did you...come to play with us?"

Nepgear nodded. "Yep. It's been a long time since we last saw each other. So, I thought to stop by!" Hey, it was actually your sister's idea.

Blanc pointed at the two of us. "Nepgear, Silver, come with me. I have a book I'd like to loan to the both of you," Blanc turned to Ram. "Ram, do what you like with Neptune."

Ram jumped up into the air. "Anything? Yay!"

Neptune continued to flail her arms. "Hey, hey, hey! Wait! These teams are way too uneven!"

Blanc shrugged. "I believe this is a fair split between the brains and brawn." Well, you're not wrong.

As we walked off, the last thing we heard was Neptune's cries for help.

"Isn't Ram a bit too wild?" I asked. "Don't you guys have an Oracle?"

Blanc frowned but glanced over at me. "We did. Her name was Mina Nishizawa."

Rom nodded silently. "Yeah... Ever since Mina left, Ram's been like that..."

Nepgear sighed. "I see she still hasn't returned." Returned?

"Yes. It's been about a year since she began her journey to become a 'proper' Oracle," Blanc explained. No wonder I never met her.

Rom sniffled. "I miss her..."

Nepgear patted Rom's head. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry!"

"It's fine. I know Mina will someday return," Blanc said as she pointed to a corner of the Basilicom. "Come on Rom, let's go read some more over there."

"Okay..." She waddled over with Blanc.

"We'll join too!" Nepgear and I chorused.

* * *

We had just returned to Planeptune and had accepted another quest. The quest requested to disband a citizens group protest. Now, we were walking to where the protest should be held.

"Oww... My everywhere..." Neptune rubbed her sore body. "I never knew books could hurt so much!"

I shrugged. "That's karma I guess."

"For what?"

"For spending all that time loafing around and not doing your duties as a CPU."

Neptune lightly hit my arm. "Hey! I did my work... sometimes."

"Yeah but only when I forced or bribed you to."

"Shut up!"

Before we could continue our argument, we heard a voice off in the distance. "Um, please read this pamphlet! It says why this world would be a better place without CPUs.."

"Move aside!"

"Kyah! S-Sorry!"

We inched closer to find a lady trying desperately to pass out pamphlets. She wore a black suit and tie lined with silver, she had pale skin, light green eyes, she wore a loose, white skull belt, she also wore black leggings and white knee-high boots. "E-Excuse me. Please take this pamphlet. We need proper laws, not CPUs..."

"Mommy, who's that lady?"

"Don't worry about it, son. Just keep walking." Hey, that's the same pair I saw this morning!

Honestly, this person was probably more timid than Nepgear. We approached her.

"Hey, protesters! Whaddya think you're doing?!"

She jumped back. "Eek! I-I'm so sorry!"

I cocked my head. "Is she the only one? I thought this was a rally?"

"W-Well, that was the plan, b-but nobody showed up." Wow, how sad.

"Well, we received a complaint and we must ask you to stop, Miss..."

"Oh, sorry! I'm the leader of the Citizens Group, Rei Ryghts," she announced shyly. "Um, if I may ask, who are you people? You seem somewhat familiar." I mean how could you NOT know them? They're this nation's leaders. "Wait! You two are the CPU and CPU Candidate!"

Neptune grinned. "Aww, go me! Even random people on the street recognize me now!"

"Well, you are this nation's CPU after all," I stated.

Rei began talking to herself. "What have I done? Now the CPUs and some random boy have come to punish me! I'm sorry!" She hurried away. What do you mean I'm some random boy?!

Nepgear called after her. "Oh, please don't run! ...And she's already gone."

I sighed. "Welp, I guess our job here is done. Let's just head home and call it quits for the day."

The sisters nodded in unison. "Right!"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This chapter was pretty long, but chapters now will become longer for the sake that there is so much to put into the Ultradimension arc. Hope you all enjoyed the double upload though. I'm still trying to work out how I want this arc to be read. But, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	53. Chapter 53

Chapter 53

"We're home~!" Neptune shouted as she barged through the elevator door to her living area.

"We're back!"

"We're home!"

Welcoming us was IF and Compa who were sitting on the couch. They smiled once we entered. "Welcome home, Nep-Nep! Welcome home, Ge-Ge! Welcome home to you too, Silver!" Compa greeted.

IF chuckled. "So, the rumors about you two working were true after all. Maybe it'll rain milk tomorrow."

A small laugh escaped my mouth. "Heh, I really wouldn't be surprised right now."

Neptune looked in between us. "What!? Do you really not have any faith in me. C'mon, I did my work!"

Ignoring her sister, Nepgear waved at IF. "Hello IF. I didn't know you and Compa would be back so soon."

"Yeah," Neptune agreed. "It's so rare to see you guys back from work before us."

IF put her hands to her hips. "Well unlike you two, we actually have jobs to go to everyday while you two laze around all day."

Neptune recoiled. "Ouch. Your words prick like a cactus."

Compa put a hand on IF's shoulder and continued smiling. "You can lecture them later. Right now, dinner is almost finished," Compa pointed to the restroom. "So I must ask you guys to go wash your hands. You don't want to eat your meal with dirty, grimy hands!" That sounds like something that a first grade teacher would say.

Neptune pumped her fist into the air. "Yes! We get to eat Compa's amazing cooking!" Neptune dashed towards the restroom with Nepgear following close. Well, I guess I should go wash my hands too.

* * *

"*Chew*…*Chew*…Mmm! Compa your cooking is absolutely to die for!" Neptune smiled as she savored her food.

Compa's face lit up. "Really?" Compa formed a wide grin. "Yay! I try my best so I can see Nep-Nep's happy, adorable face!"

IF finished her plate and turned to Neptune, Nepgear and I. "So, how did it feel to actually get some real work done?"

Nepgear answered quietly. "Well we did fine, but we were a bit rusty." A bit? Did you not see Neptune's level?

Histoire glared at Neptune and Nepgear. "You did not visit the other nations in order to slack off did you?" She asked coldly.

Neptune stammered. "N-N-No! Of course not Histy! Don't you believe us?"

"No," Hikan spoke up. "You're not exactly the most diligent worker."

"Yeah, you play way more than you work. In fact I don't think I've ever seen you work," Tolise added.

Neptune dropped her head. "Why doesn't anybody have any faith in me?"

"I-It's alright Neptune. I still have faith in you," Nepgear said, trying to comfort the depressed Neptune.

Histoire sighed before switching her gaze to me. "So tell me Silver, did these two honestly do their work?" Well I have to be honest.

I nodded. "Yup, they did their work. They actually did two jobs. They killed Dogoos and dealt with the Citizens Group's head representatives."

IF showed a face of disappointment. "Oh, them," she rolled her eyes. "I've been hearing about their more recent 'activities.'

I cocked my head. "Is it bad?"

She shook her head. "Hardly. First, they don't have many members, and they don't conduct in illegal activity. All they do is pass out dumb pamphlets and give little speeches on the streets."

"Yeah, the representative didn't seem like she was into it either," Nepgear commented.

"See, Histy!? Iffy said they're no big deal. You're just being a worry wart!" Neptune broke off Nepgear.

"…" A vein began to jut out of Histoire. Man, she must be pissed. "But the fact that such a group exists is a problem and it's due to your way of acting as a CPU, Neptune!" Her glare was ice cold.

Neptune shrunk back into her seat. "Yikes! Did I say something wrong?" Almost everything you say is wrong.

Compa raised her voice. "Now, now. If we lecture, the food will get all cold and yucky, and food doesn't taste good like that."

Histoire crossed her arms and let out a sigh. "Very well. Neptune, I expect you to continue your duties tomorrow as well."

Neptune stood up from her seat. "Wait, tomorrow!? But I tried so hard today, so I figured I'd need a few days off." You didn't even work that much!

"Did I say you had an option?" Histoire questioned with a cold glare.

Neptune groaned. "Yes ma'am."

We finished our meals and us guys decided to help clean up. So we all stood at the sink washing dishes. We had decided that Hikan and I would scrub and rinse the dishes while Tolise got to simply wet the dishes. He whistled a tune while Hikan and I just washed the dishes in silence.

"Man," I sighed as I put applied a bit more force to the dish. "Why is Neptune so lazy?" I questioned.

Hikan and Tolise starred at each other before bursting out laughing. "Hahaha!"

I cocked my head. "What? It's an honest question."

"Yeah...," Hikan used his forearm to wipe away his tears. "But it's just that you've lived here so long and you still don't know why."

Tolise let out a breath. "Yeah, even I know and I've lived here for a shorter time than you."

"Yeah, but, unlike a certain someone, I spend more time with everyone than just with Neptune all day," I snapped back.

A bit of red entered Tolise's cheeks. "Hey! She's fun to be around!"

I shrugged. "Well, you're not wrong," I took the last plate from Hikan and scrubbed hard at it. "It's just that I feel that Neptune's laziness will be her downfall one day."

They both thought for a moment. "Yeah, she's pretty bad. So it could actually be her downfall."

I rinsed off the plate. "Maybe..."

* * *

Neptune groaned and rubbed her eyes. "So, Histy is still pretty serious. I'd rather complain than work, but I guess we gotta."

The next morning had rolled around and Neptune, Nepgear and I were all sitting on the Planeptune couch. Histoire had woken up earlier and screamed at Neptune to go do her job.

Nepgear frowned. "But you've been complaining all day already. You really don't want to go work, do you?" Well you're her sister, so you should know!

Neptune turned her head towards Nepgear. "You could tell? I worked so much yesterday, that my body's sore now." I think that just might be the book injuries talking.

Nepgear squirmed a bit before taking a deep breath. "Um, can I say something not as your sister, but as a person? I think you're being pretty childish right now, Neptune." Wow, even Nepgear's calling her out.

She began muttering to herself. "Maybe I have been spoiling you too much. At this rate..." She sighed. "Alright, I get it." Huh?

"Oh, oh, oh wait! I have the perfect idea!" Neptune jumped up and down excitedly. She pointed towards her sister. "How about you go with your boyfriend and do the work, then you'll come back and report to me? Doesn't that sound like a great idea?" Wow, this girl really is a piece of work. "Since I clearly need to recover from yesterday, I'll—"

"NO! BAD NEPTUNE!" Nepgear shouted.

Both Neptune and I jumped in shock. "Yikes! Are you getting mad at me too?"

Nepgear turned away her question and continued scolding her sister. "At the rate your going, you're going to be a failure as a CPU! I have to be more hard on you!" Just don't say anything Silver, don't say a thing. Not yet.

Neptune waved her hands and put them in front of her. "Wait, wait, wait! You can't turn into Histy's disciple! I can barely survive with her, so don't—"

Before Neptune could finish speaking, Nepgear muffled her ears with her hands. "LA LA LA! I CAN'T HEAR YOU! SO YOU HAVE TO GO WORK ALL BY YOURSELF TODAY!" Nepgear, I think you might want to chill a little.

"Um, Nepgear. I thin—"

"LA LA LA LA LA!" She sung louder to cancel out Neptune.

"Fine, I get it. I'll go work on my own," Neptune began to walk out the doorway.

"Wait, Neptune!" I called out to her.

She spun back to me. "Hm? What's up?"

"How about I come help you with your work? I suggested. "I don't want you to be all lonely."

Neptune watched me curiously. "Are you sure? Won't Nep Jr. get lonely?"

I shrugged. "She'll be fine. I know she can be tough."

Neptune smiled. "Alright! Then let's go!"

And before the elevator doors closed, we heard one last sound. "LA LA LA LA LA!" Nepgear, sometimes I worry about you...

* * *

We were now in another forest doing a quest I had chosen. I had decided to cut Neptune a bit of slack and start her off with an easy one. All we had to do was collect seven red pigment, three yellow pigment and two blue pigment. So far, we had the seven red pigment, we had two yellows and one blue.

As we were looking for pigment on the edge of the path we were walking on, Neptune kicked at the grass. "Man, work is so lame and boring."

I shrugged as I picked up the last yellow pigment we needed. Only needed one more blue now. "Well not everybody's life can be as fun as yours. People have jobs that they go to everyday to make a living because they need the money to survive. The reason you should do your job is because it helps you keep your faith strong enough to protect others you care about. Do you get it now?"

Neptune sighed and shrugged. We continued our walk on the trail but soon found somebody leaned against a tree. "Woah, look Silver! That person looks like she's about to hurl!" Neptune blurted as she pointed towards the person. We got a bit closer to discover who it was. It was Rei Ryghts.

When she heard our voice, she quickly scurried towards us and began to bow. "I-I'm sorry! Um, ah, I mean, can you help me?" Wait, why are her eyes closed? "Please, help me! I've been lost for so long now! I don't know where to go!"

"Well howdy ho! You're that Citizens Group representative from yesterday!" Neptune stated.

"Huh?" Rei peeked her eyes open and they shot wide. "Gah! The CPU! And that boy again!" C'mon, at least give me a better name! She began to run towards the opposite direction but was stopped by Neptune's vice grip.

"No, wait! Don't run away again! I don't care who you are, I just need somebody to hang out with!"

This honestly reminded me of something a friend from my dimension had said when I had first met him. He had said, "I need friends damnit!"

Rei clutched the area where Neptune was gripping. "Choking...collar...please...let go..."

"Neptune, let go!" I wrenched her off Rei. " You could've caused her to foam or even die!"

Neptune scratched the back of her head. "Oopsies! Sorry! You 'kay?"

"*Cough*…*Hack*…*Gasp*...Wh-Why would a CPU and a boy be out here?"

Neptune puffed out her cheeks. "Because I'm working like the reliable CPU that I am!" That's not what I thought a while ago.

Rei stared at her with disbelief. "Um, if that were true, I don't think I would have formed this group."

"Ah! My pride," Neptune clutched her heart. "Those words stung, lady!"

I ignored Neptune's stupidity, seeing that this conversation wasn't going anywhere. "Have you been lost since you ran from us yesterday?" Rei nodded shyly. Oh boy. Some leader this Citizens Group has got.

Neptune burst out laughing. "Wow! That's some terrible map reading skills you got, lady! Seriously, ever heard of Google?"

Rei slumped over and groaned.

Neptune grinned. "I'm totally winning this discussion! Hey, say some dialogue so that I can roast you again!"

Rei sniffled. "Ugh... Why do you... Why do you?"

"Um, can't hear you! Try turning up your mouth volume."

"Neptune! Stop!" I smacked her atop her head. "That's enough for one day."

Neptune rubbed the injured area. "Oww... Alright..."

"CPUs shouldn't...*sniff*...CPUs shouldn't..."

"Huh?" We both turned back to Rei.

"WAHHH!" She burst into tears.

I spun back to glare at Neptune. "See what you did!?"

"I'm sorry! I'm just not good with these of situations!"

"CPUs should all just disappear!"

*Hsshhh!*

Suddenly, a dark purple wisp of energy emerged from Rei. "Wait, what is that?!"

The ball slowly inched closer towards Neptune and opened a portal that began to suck us in. "AHHHH!"

The portal sucked us in and we began to fall. My vision faded to black...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And this ends this chapter. I just want to say something. I'm sorry for using the exact wording from the actual game. I just didn't know how to set up these chapters. But now I do know and that's all thanks to _All The Nep_ for pointing this out to me. Without your comment, I probably would've had a much harder time writing these chapters. So, this will be the last chapter where I use exact wording. Anyways, enough crediting for now. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	54. Chapter 54

Chapter 54

"...Mmgm... Huh?" My eyes fluttered open. Why was I falling? The last thing I had remembered was being sucked into a portal. "Wait..." I observed my surroundings. I was passing clouds. Was I falling from the sky!?

"Why am I falling from the sky!?" I thought aloud. "I don't remember flying up to the sky!"

The wind was rushing past me and I was falling at a pretty rapid rate towards the Earth. However, this fall was so long that I had managed to wake up and still continue to fall. "Oh shit..."

That thought was tossed away once the Earth began to come into view. "Man, if I were to hit the ground with this speed, I could possibly die."

I concentrated some Devil energy to pulse out and began to command it as the ground quickly grew closer and closer. By the way, where was Neptune? I had remembered seeing her getting sucked in with me. I tossed the thought away and returned to concentrating as two specks came into view.

"Looook! Another person's about to land on you, Noire."

"Huh?"

*Crash!*

"Whew. That was close," I wiped a bit of sweat from my brow and hopped off the shield of energy that was protecting a girl. I turned to face the girl, who looked very much like Noire. "Hey, are you alright?"

The energy, that I had commanded to shield the people around and provide me with a soft landing, disappeared into thin air. The girl snapped herself from her shocked state before answering me. "I-I'm fine. T-Thanks...I guess." Maybe this girl is Noire.

She did seem to act like her, but her attire was different. While her features remained the same, her hair ribbons have become a bit frilly and changed to a blue color with black lining. Right below her collar, she now wore a big blue bow with an orange gem-like object at the center. Instead of her dress, she now wore a black tank top with the bottom cut off with a white bit of clothes underneath and a blue strap wrapped tightly beneath her thorax area. She also wore a pleat-like black skirt lined towards the bottom with a thin white line and a black belt with silver rings. Her outfit also consisted of dark blue, hem lined stockings that were held up by belts and buckles, and she wore shaded gray boots with several black, connecting straps. Also, she had on cut-off shoulder sleeves connecting to arm warmer-like, loose black sleeves that reached the edge of her metacarpals.

"Hey! Why are you looking at me like that?!" The girl asked as she began to blush and hug herself.

"Sorry," I stopped examining the girl and asked the question that was bugging me. "I just want to know something."

She cocked her head. "What is it?"

"Is your name, by any chance, Noire?"

She seemed taken back by my question and her eyes widened. "Wh-What!? H-How do you know my name!? Are you some crazy stalker?!" Noire was panicking.

I signaled my hands to tell her to relax. "Relax. You just look extremely similar to somebody I know."

She let out a sigh of relief and still kept her gaze averted. "Well, okay. B-But, if you're going to ask me for my name, then what's your name?"

I smiled and stuck out my hand. "Silver, good to meet you."

"You too," turning back to me, she took my hand and shook it. "By the way, who was this other Noire you were talking about?"

"Well, I know this other girl named Noire, who looks practically identical to you and acts the same. So, I thought you were her. Do you really not know me?"

She shook her head. "Sorry, I don't." That's strange...

I nodded. "Alright, then can you at least tell me where we are?"

"We're in Planeptune," she answered. "It was recently charted."

Wait, this looks nothing like anywhere in Planeptune I've ever seen before, and what did she mean by 'recently charted'? "Um, what do you mean? Planeptune's been around for quite sometime."

She stared at me with a look that seemed to say 'You're stupid'. "Um, I'm pretty sure it was recently charted. The CPU was only recently founded."

"But Neptune has been around for ages!"

She frowned the instance she heard Neptune's name. "Oh, you know that girl..." Noire rolled her eyes.

"What's wrong with that?"

"She keeps claiming that I'm a fake and that she knows me," her face twisted into disgust.

"But isn't she the CPU of Planeptune?"

Noire let out a chuckle. "Of course not! This nation's CPU is Plutia." Who the hell is that!?

"Nooiiirre! Sloow downn..." Huh?

The two of us turned to the source of the voice. Running towards us was a girl and Neptune. Wait, Neptune!? "Hey, Silver!"

The two of them dashed up towards us. "Hey, Noire," the girl pointed at me. "Who's that boy?"

"H-He's just somebody I met!" Noire blushed once again. This really is like another Noire. "I-It's not like I actualy care about him or anything!" Man, why so tsundere, Noire?

Neptune grinned and jabbed her index finger towards Noire. "Glad you showed up in the plot when you did, Silver! Now you can explain to these two that I'm not crazy and that this Noire is a clone!"

Noire cast Neptune a hard glare. "I'm not a clone! How many times do I have to tell you!?"

I sighed. "I don't even want to know yet. Just take me somewhere we can talk so we can clear this whole mess up."

"Roger that!"

* * *

"Heerre we arre!" The girl announced as we entered a room in, what appeared to be, a Basilicom.

The room had an orange ceiling that was decorated with a flower design and had a flower-shaped light hanging from the center. The walls were a cream pink color with yellow-curtained windows aligning both sides. Also, the flooring was a checkered lime and pine green color made of a soft material. The room had a pastel yellow bed in the corner with a curtain of the same color that was shaped like a teepee, and, on either side of the bed, there were purple shelves and cabinets against the walls. There was a polka-dotted purple tea table surrounded by pink and orange chairs with a purple rug underneath. There also sat several heart-shaped cushions and a flat screen TV atop a purple table with a console sitting up against the table. Who's room was this?

I turned back to look at the girl. She wore a strange outfit. Her messy hair was a dark purple color tied into a long braid, held together by a pink bow. Her skin was pale and she had a pair of pink eyes. She seemed to wear a drooped nightgown-like outfit that exposed her neck and was held up by a pair of blue straps. The outfit was a sky blue color and had frilled pink shouldering with a white center reaching down to the edge of her outfit. She had a white belt with a purple center, and an uneven white skirt lined by yellow and blue. Her striped stockings alternated between a pink, yellow and white color, and she wore a pair of pink, bear-like slippers. I don't even know how to explain this. It was such a strange outfit.

"Hm?" She cocked her head towards me. "What's wrong Mister?"

"Um, nothing," I smiled. "What's your name?"

She pointed towards her face. "Meee?" I nodded. "Oh, I'm Plutia! It's nice to meet you..." Why do you drag out your words? "What's your naammee?"

I nodded. "Silver."

Plutia giggled. "Hehe. That's a funny name!"

"Well, it's good to meet you Plutia," I continued smiling, ignoring her comment. "But, where is this place?"

Neptune piped up. "Yeah! I'd also like to know why there's a fake Noire!" Fake?

"Shut up! I'm not a fake!" Noire insisted. "You're just somebody who needs some serious help!"

"Hey," I stepped in between Noire and Neptune. "We can solve this right now. Noire, Plutia. Just explain this situation to me."

"Weeellll... I was following Noire to go somewhere!" Plutia grinned and pointed at Neptune. "But theennn... Neppy fell from the sky and landed on Noire!"

"Yeah, and you didn't help me back up!" Noire snapped at Plutia. "Geez! And then this girl went on to say how I'm a fake! I'm human, okay?" Human?

I cast Noire a puzzled stare. "Wait, I thought you were the CPU of Lastaion?"

She shook her head. "I haven't become a CPU yet. But, when I do, I'll consider naming my nation Lastation. It sounds cool."

"See! You're just a fake Noire! You're not even a CPU"

Noire gritted her teeth. "Really?! Then prove it."

"I can't prove it, but I can say all of your secrets!"

Noire's blushed for the third time today. "Really?! T-Then tell us all about me!"

"Alright," Neptune formed a wide grin. "Well here's the best one! Noire has no friends!"

"Whhaaat!?" Plutia stared wide-eyed at Noire. "Noire! I thought I was your friend?!"

"Because you are," Noire blurted out. "Y-you're...my...f-friend..."

"Reeaalllly? Yaaaaay!" Plutia smiled brightly and hugged Noire. Seriously, why does this girl talk so slow?

"W-wait...N-Noire...actually has...f-friends?" Neptune dropped her jaw. "Ahhhh! This Noire really is a fake! What's going on here!?" She began to flail her body.

I took a hold of her. "Calm down Neptune."

Noire watched us in confusion. "How can you stand this girl?"

I shrugged as I plopped Neptune down on a cushion."I don't know. She's pretty easy to deal with actually," I turned back to face Noire. "So, tell me about this place."

Noire sat down on a chair. "Well, to start, this is Planeptune. It was recently discovered when Plutia became a CPU."

I cocked my head. "What do you mean by become? Aren't you born one?"

Noire shook her head. "No. There are these things called CPU Memories. If you meet the proper requirements, you can become one using a CPU Memory."

"I see... So that's what you meant by you weren't a CPU _yet_." Noire nodded.

Plutia giggled. "I was having a picnic with Noire and I got hungry. I found one of those CPU things and ate it. I thought it was a rice ball. It didn't taste that good." That's a pretty funny way of becoming a CPU.

Noire ignored her comment. "So, Planeptune became Plutia's nation. Becoming the second nation."

"Who's the first?"

Noire shrugged. "Some girl that rules a nation called Lowee."

Neptune perked up at that statement. "Oh! That's Blanc!"

"Wooww Neppy! You know soooo many people!" Plutia said.

Noire returned to her explantion. "Well, whoever she is, she apparently works with the Seven Sages."

"Who're they? Are they like some kind of cool ninja person?" Neptune asked.

Noire shook her head. "No. You're also too stupid to be one of them," Noire snapped back.

"Yeah, they're meanies..." Plutia stated.

"Anyway, this is the Basilicom we're in. Right now though, I'm working to become a CPU."

"I see..." I nodded. "Well, I think you can do it."

"Wh-What!? Why'd you just randomly say that!?"

I shrugged. "I just think you can do it."

"Alright, it's decided then!" Neptune put her hands to her hips. "I'll find one of those CPU Memory things and become a CPU!"

Noire sighed. "Do you even know where to find them or the risk?"

Neptune shook her head. "Nope, but I'm sure the risk isn't that b—"

Noire cut her off. "If you can't meet the CPU requirements, you'll become a monster."

Neptune's mouth fell agap. "…..WHHAAAT!?"

Neptune plopped back down on the cushion. "Well, that decides it! I'm NOT gonna become a CPU! It's too much work anyways!"

"Whatever Neptune..." I turned to Noire and Plutia. "Do you mind if we stay here for a bit? We're not from here, so we don't have anywhere to go."

Noire averted her gaze. "I guess. It's not like I like your company or anything." Yep, this is definitely a Noire.

I nodded. "Thanks."

"Yaaaay! I get to stay with Neppy!" Plutia lunged towards Neptune.

Noire turned back to me. "Please tell me that you're going to be staying at least. I can't deal with these two on my own."

I smiled. "Don't worry. I'm staying..."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Sorry this chapter was uploaded a bit late. School and work have been hitting me hard and it's the end of the school year, so I'm pretty frustrated and stressed. That being said, I'm not sure if there will be a chapter upload tomorrow, but I'll try my best to get it out to you all. Also, on a different note, Megadimension Neptunia V2 has been announced and will be released on Steam this summer! I'm really excited for it and that will probably occupy a lot of my time once it's released. Don't worry though, I'll still upload. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	55. Chapter 55

Chapter 55

"Ooh! Look at all these old games and mangas! Man, I could sit here all day and cringe at how poorly made they were!" Neptune stuck a game cartridge into a console. "Hahaha! It looks so trash! Man, I've met bread that could make better games than this!"

"Heeeey! I want to play to Neppy!" Plutia complained.

"Yeah, let's play together Plutie! Sit your bottom right next to mine!" Neptune patted an area right beside her.

A few hours had passed and we were all just sitting around. I was reading a manga that had been lying around, Noire was being Noire, while Neptune and Plutia were playing.

"Hey! Stop playing, you two!" Noire demanded as she stomped her feet.

They turned back to her. "Aww, c'mon Noire! Don't be such a party pooper!"

I flipped a page. Man, when was the last time I had read?

"I will not! Plutia, you're a CPU so you should be doing your job," Noire jabbed a finger towards Neptune. "And as for you! You have no right to be here! If you're going to be staying here, you have to pay rent!"

"But I ain't got no Credits!"

Noire crossed her arms. "Then you'll work for your rent! You'll help us do work if you want to stay here!"

Neptune frowned. "Wait, then how come Silver doesn't have to do anything?"

I set my book down on the tea table. "I just cooked you all your lunch, and I did a few quests earlier, so I'm fine for now," I flashed my wallet. "Plus, I have Credits."

Neptune groaned. "Uggh... That's so lame! Why do you have to set such a good example!? You're like the male version of Noire, only with friends and without the tsundereness."

"Hey! I heard that!"

I sighed and stretched out my body. "Well, how about we all go do some quests together?"

Plutia smiled before giggling. "Yaaaaaay! A family trip! I get to go with Neppy, Noire and Silvy!" Silvy?

"Plutia, did you just call me Silvy?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yeeeah... Silver was getting too hard to remember, so I shortened it down to Silvy! It sounds better anyways!"

I shrugged and pulled the door open. "Whatever, let's go."

* * *

"Man, walking takes so much energy!"

"Heeey! Slow down! You guys are walking too fast..."

Noire and I sighed while we waited for Neptune and Plutia to catch up. Noire and I, after witnessing Neptune and Plutia being lazy, had decided to choose a quest that would make them work. The quest we had chosen had simply been to eliminate an area of Kilachines.

I put a hand to my hip. "Honestly, I don't know how you two can be so slow. I can understand Plutia, but you too, Neptune?" I shook my head in disapproval. "It just won't do..."

Neptune finally reached us after a good minute or so. "But why does it matter if I do my work? I'm not even a CPU here, so why should I do it?"

I flicked her forehead. "Because, if you want somewhere to stay, then you'll have to work for it."

As Plutia finally reached us, Neptune slumped over. "Man, that's bogus. There's gotta be some rule against that!"

We continued our walk. "By the way, Noire," I faced up towards the blue sky. "Why are you in such a rush to become a CPU anyways?"

A bit of color entered her face at my question. "W-Well, I want to create a new nation better than Planeptune and Lowee. I don't want the citizens to live in such a horrible place like Lowee or have it run by a CPU who's too incompetent."

"What's so bad about Lowee?"

"Well, for one thing, the Seven Sages are aiding the CPU there."

Plutia frowned at Noire's explanation. "Heey! I'm not in-camp-a-tent at all! You're just too confusing Noire!" Nice spelling Plutia.

She ignored Plutia's comment. "Also, I want to at least become a CPU before I turn old. It'd be nice." Wait, she can age?

"I wouldn't mind if you aged! Imagine it! A tsundere granny!" Neptune let out a chuckle. "That would be comedy gold!"

I shook my head. "I don't think that would work out that well..."

"Wait..." Neptune stopped walking.

We all turned back to her. "What's wrong, Neppy?"

"N-Noire, d-did you just say that you were aging?" Neptune asked in a serious tone.

Noire shrugged. "Well, yeah. That's how time works. The more time that passes, the older we get. Really, did is basic knowledge."

Plutia put a hand onto Neptune's shoulder. "Neppy, did you come from somewhere without education?"

"But, then what about Plutie?! Won't she age?!"

Plutia smiled. "Noooope! Since I became a CPU, I'll always look like this forever!"

"…" Neptune didn't respond, but just remained standing there with her mouth agape.

I waved a hand in front of her. "Yo, Neptune? You in there?"

"NOOOO!" Neptune tackled me to the ground.

*Thud!*

"SILVER! WE HAVE TO GET ONE OF THOSE CPU MEMORY THINGS!"

I clasped her shoulders while my head rang. "WHY!? I DON'T NEED ONE!"

"BECAUSE I NEED ONE! I CAN'T GROW OLD AND WRINKLY! THAT TAKES AWAY PART OF MY CHARM AS THE MAIN CHARACTER!"

The ringing was starting to clear up and I could actually hear once again. I sighed. "Alright, I'll help you _and_ Noire find CPU Memories."

"REALLY!?" Noire and Neptune asked in unison.

I nodded and picked myself back onto my feet. "Sure. Noire, you want to make a great nation and Neptune, well, you're just Neptune. So I'll help you two."

Plutia giggled. "Aww~ You're all getting along soooo well!"

I sighed. "How about we actually go do our quest now?"

The girls all pumped their fists into the air. "Yeah!"

* * *

*BOOM!* *CRASH!*

I drove my blade deep into the last Kilachine's head, hopped off it and watched it blow up into bits. "Well, that's my part done," I dusted myself off. I had decided not to use my Devils' powers because none of the girls were transforming and I would be at an unfair advantage. I turned over to examine the other fights.

*Bash!* *Bam!* *Crash!* *BOOM!*

Watching Plutia, she bashed a Kilachine's wings with a stuffed doll, breaking the wings off and causing it to crash to the ground and blow up. Once it blew up, Plutia smiled gleefully and giggled. "Hehehe... I love breaking things..." I'm not even going to ask. But what was that doll made out of?!

I switched my attention to Noire.

*Bang!* *Crash!* *Boom!* *Boom!*

Two Kilachines had drove her into a corner. Once they slammed their weapons down vertically at her, she rolled out of the way and climbed onto a Kilachine. Seeing this, the other Kilachine performed a horizontal slash at it's comrade and, right as Noire hopped off it, sliced off the Kilachine's head. It blew up right as Noire came up from behind and thrusted her blade deep into the back of the other Kilachine's head and drove her blade down. The Kilachine was split in half and blew up. Noire released a sigh.

And then there was Neptune.

"Zzzz...*Snore*...zzzz..."

We were all watching her. I facepalmed. "How do you even..."

"I really think this girl is helpless..."

"Heey! Nooo fair! I want to nap too!"

Neptune's Kilachine was still alive and so was Neptune. The only problem was that Neptune was sleeping atop the Kilachine's head. I didn't even know that was possible, but then again, the impossible is always possible when it comes to Neptune.

I sighed. "Noire, Plutia. You two get Neptune off the Kilachine while I kill it."

They nodded and scurried over to get Neptune off of the machine. "Seriously, how do you even mange that, Neptune?"

Once the sleeping Neptune had been removed from the Kilachine's head. I activated Level One. There was only one left, so I felt it was fine to make this a swift and clean kill. Time slowed down and I quickly stepped up towards the Kilachine. Once I was about a few inches away from it, I put some Devil energy into it and thrusted my blade into it. The energy engulfed the body of the Kilachine and it blew up into pieces. I retracted my blade and, resuming time, deactivated Level One. So much for a clean death. But at least it was fast.

I walked over to a nearby tree to find Noire and Plutia along with Neptune, who was still sleeping. "Zzzzz...*Snore*...zzzz..."

"Man, this girl is too lazy."

I shrugged. "That's how she normally is."

Noire frowned. "Well, we'll just have to fix that."

"You can try."

"Oh, oh! Heeey Noire!" Plutia tapped on Noire's shoulder.

She looked back at Plutia. "Yeah, what do you need?"

"Weeell, I was just thinking... Don't you think it's about time for 'her' to be returning home?"

Noire nodded. "You're right. 'She' should be getting home sometime from shopping soon. C'mon, let's head home."

Plutia nodded. "Ooookay!"

Before we left, I scooped up the sleeping Neptune and we headed back for the Basilicom.

* * *

"So, do you finally know who the Seven Sages are?" Noire asked Neptune.

Neptune nodded. "Yepperoni! I understand it all!"

"Then summarize who they are."

Neptune grinned. "Alright, get ready to be blown away," she cleared her throat. "The Seven Sages are a group of bad guys who don't like CPUs, so they do bad things to try to get rid of them. Is that right?"

Noire facepalmed. "I knew you weren't listening."

Neptune giggled. "Sorry, but all I got out of that was that the Seven Mages are bad!"

Plutia nodded. "The Seven Mages are bad people!"

I sighed. "Clearly, neither of you get it."

Neptune frowned. "Well, Noire is explaining this in a way I can't understand!"

"Yeeah... She makes everything sound waaay too complicated..."

I shrugged. "How about I try explaining it?"

Their faces lit up. "Really? Can we understand it?"

I nodded. "You should be able to understand this explanation."

They scooted close to me as if I were a school teacher reading them a story. "Now, ten years ago, a group consisting of seven main people created an organization. These seven were known as the Seven Sages and they're bad people. They wanted a nation free of CPUs with proper laws. They also apparently do illegal stuff without anybody realizing it. Basically, they want you CPUs gone."

Noire chuckled. "There's no way they understood any of th—"

"Those Seven Sages are bad people!"

"Yeeeah! They don't like CPUs!"

Noire's jaw fell open. "U-Unbelievable... H-How'd you do that!?"

I smiled. "Easy. You just have to dumb everything you say so that they can understand it."

Neptune and Plutia hugged. "Yay! We did it Plutia! We made Noire proud!"

"Yeeah!"

*Ga-thunk!*

We spun to the door to find a girl standing there. She had fair skin, dark green eyes and blonde hair that jutted outwards at the end accompanied by a pink bow with a skull center. She wore a pink dress with white ruffles and two hot pink, big bows, one below the neck and another around the pelvic area. But the one around the pelvic area had a skull center. Lastly, she wore pink boots with a bow on each one and she had long white socks. Why was there a little girl here?

Her gaze passed us until it stopped on Neptune. "Ah-ha! So you're this new so-called CPU of Planeptune, huh?" What are you talking about?

Plutia gasped. "It's the Seven Sages bully! She's mean!"

Noire frowned. "Great..."

The girl stepped up to Neptune. "Listen girlie, you're probably not even old enough to be a CPU! You may act like a teen, but you haven't even hit puberty yet! You're just a little girl!"

"Shut your piehole, short stack!" Neptune snapped back.

"What did you call me, little girl?"

"Oh, you didn't hear me? Heh, figures. I know little girls like you are too dumb to understand what anything means."

*Bonk!*

"Owww!" Tears began to form in the corner of the girl's eyelids after Neptune bonked her on the head.

"How do you like them apples, you little kid?"

"Speak for yourself," Noire muttered under her breath.

She sniffled. "So this is what Planeptune really is! Them and their dumb, violent little girl CPUs! I guess there really are two CPUs after all!"

I chuckled. "Hey, kid, sorry to burst your bubble, but she's not a CPU."

"What!?"

Neptune looked over at me. "Awww! Why'd you tell her? I was going to do it!"

"T-Then how come that hit hurt so much?"

I burst out laughing. "It's because you're just really weak."

She glared between Neptune and I. "Grr... I won't forget this! You two! Tell me your names!"

I chuckled. "Silver, remember it."

Neptune put her hands to her hips. "It's Neptune. You only get to here it once!"

"Neptune and Silver..."

"Hey, if we tell you our names, isn't it proper to introduce yourself?"I questioned.

"Fine! I'll only say it once," she stuck a finger towards us. "I'm Abnes, the Seven Sages spokeswoman! Don't forget it!"

Suddenly, a text box of purple and pink colors appeared over her head that read Abnes.

"Hey, I want a cool intro! That's not fair!" Neptune complained.

"This isn't over! I'll be back!" Abnes warned as closed the door behind her.

Man, I just want the day to be over with now...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Well, it looks like I managed to crank this chapter out. I've finished all my work and school should be ending soon. So, everything should be better IRL and I'm going to be spending the rest of today playing the Overwatch beta. So, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	56. Chapter 56

Chapter 56

"So...tired..." Upon entering the room, which I figured out was Plutia's, Neptune collapsed onto the carpeted floor. "Ugghh..."

"Meee tooo..." Plutia followed Neptune's action. "I feel aaaalll sore..."

Noire and I, closing the door behind us, watched as the two of them rolled around on the floor. A day had passed since the whole event with Abnes. But due to that, Noire had dragged us to go do quests with her to blow off some steam. "Geez, you two are hopeless," Noire shook her head. "It wasn't THAT bad."

"Nuh-uh, Noire... You and Silvy are just too good at doing this..." Plutia stated.

I went and picked up the manga book I had left behind earlier. "Nope, you two are just extremely lazy," I began to flip through the pages to where I had left off.

Neptune dragged herself along the carpet to the console. "Really? You have no proof!"

"You wanna bet?" I walked over to her. "Then tell me, how many Dogoos did you kill?"

Neptune laughed dryly. "Ehehe... Well..." She began to whistle.

*Knock!* *Knock!*

Before I could press on, we heard a knock at the door. Was that girl really back already?

"Plutia! Plutia! Please hurry and open the door!(_)."

Wait, why does that voice sound so much like Histoire, and why is there an emoticon at the end of that quote?!

"Oooookay... I'm coming..." Plutia called out as she got back to her feet and waddled to the door.

"Um..." I stared at the being standing before me. Is that a mini Histoire?

"Histoire... You took soooo long... What happened?"

"Histoire", who was holding two, tiny shopping bags, landed onto Plutia's head and plopped the bags into Plutia's cupped hands. "Sorry, I went to a store on the outskirts of Planeptune to buy some double A batteries."

"But that walk shouldn't have taken THAT long."

"Yes, but they were having a Two for One deal on them, and the weight really dragged me down, so it was a three day trip back home. (-.-;)"

"Geez, you're such a strange one, Histoire," Noire stated.

The Histoire, who was smaller than the one I was used to, materialized a small, open book with a bookmark and climbed onto it. Just like our Histoire, her book also floated. Once the mini Histoire had climbed onto the book, she glanced up and looked between Neptune and I. "Oh? And who are these two? (o.o)"

Plutia smiled. "Oooh... That's Neppy and Silvy! They're my new friends..."

"I see...(-.-)" mini Histoire floated right up to us. "Then—eek! Σ(･口･)"

Neptune suddenly dashed towards the mini Histoire and pulled her into a tight embrace, squeezing her tightly. "It's so freakin' cute! If you and big Histy met, you'd make for a great postcard!"

Plutia gasped. "Neppy knows Histoire?! Wooow... That's so cool..."

"Actually, where we come from, our Histoire is bigger than yours and less lolified," I stated.

"Reeeally!? I want to meet the big Histoire!" Plutia bounced up and down.

Noire simply sighed. "Don't be stupid. There's no other Histoire," she pointed towards the small Histoire right in front of us. "This is the only Histoire. Besides, she came when you became a CPU, Plutia. So there's no way another one could possibly exist." Actually Noire, there IS another Histoire.

"Aww..." Plutia slumped over.

While Neptune rubbed her cheek against the mini Histoire, Histoire squirmed to get away from Neptune. "Please, I can't breath... Release me...right...now...ヽ(ﾟДﾟ)ﾉ"

"Neptune, hurry and let her go!" I pointed towards Histoire's face. "Look, her eyes are rolling back!"

"I...can see...the light...ヾ(×× ) ﾂ"

"Oh no! I just met you! You can't die on me yet!" Neptune let go of Histoire and she began to fall to the ground. I jumped forward and caught her in my hands.

I took a moment to examine the mini Histoire. Of course, she was smaller than the Histoire Neptune and I knew. Her bookmark had a chibi-style cat sticker. She now had looser pigtails and wore a purple headpiece that had white and yellow detailing while her hair ribbons had changed to a cyan color.

Her attire looked practically the same as the big Histoire's. The only few differences were that the dress color was lighter, she wore a cyan bow tie, the dress has ruffles and there were no 'N' logos anywhere. Lastly, while her stockings remained the same, the shoes she wore had pink orbs instead of blue and her shoes were , she had butterfly-like, small wings.

Man, she's the more adorable version of Histoire. Compared to our Histoire, this Histoire looked practically like a doll!

I placed her atop my head. "Are you alright?"

Histoire sighed. "Yes, I am fine... Thank you!(*^▽^*)" She cleared her throat. "Now, can you two tell me who you are?( ｡_｡)"

I pointed towards Neptune. "That's Neptune and I'm Silver."

She nodded. "I see...(—.—)" She scratched her head. "For some reason, I feel like I've met both of you before...(ー_ーゞ"

Neptune's face lit up at Histoire's statement. "Really?! Are you telling me you actually believe me!?"

Noire rolled her eyes. "Come on Histoire. You're not suggesting that this girl is actually sane, are you?"

"Hey! I'm perfectly sane! I know that you're a fake Noire and that this isn't where I'm from!"

Histoire shook her head. "Well, she definitely is quite odd. But I feel that there is some truth to her statement.(-.-)" Histoire's attention shifted over to me. "Tell me Silver. Explain yours and Neptune's situation as best as you can. _〆(･_･｡)"

I nodded. "Alright."

* * *

"And that's about all that's happened," I concluded before flopping down onto a cushion.

"I see...Σ(-᷅_-᷄๑)" Histoire only nodded and thought. "Well, if that is the case, then I believe I have the answer. ( ﾟ▽ﾟ)"

"Really!?" Neptune pushed her face close to Histoire's. "What is it!? What is it!?"

"Ah!Σ(゜ロ゜;)" Histoire jumped back a few centimeters on her book. "Don't press your face so close to mine."

Neptune backed up. "Ehehe. Sorry..."

The mini Histoire cleared her throat. "Now, let me explain. It is quite simple; you two have simply come from an alternate dimension."

"Wooow... Neppy and Silvy are sooo cool!" Plutia commented.

Noire rolled her eyes. "Histoire, you're not being serious, are you?"

Neptune pointed at Noire. "See?! I told you I was sane!"

"Then why'd you come to this dimension!?" Noire questioned.

"Because we're Time Lords and we've come here because our Tardis broke down!"

"Yeah, right..." Noire stared at Neptune with a look of disappointment. "You really aren't sane."

Before the two of them could continue bickering, Histoire spoke up. "Wait you two! ( ﾟдﾟ)" Histoire slid in between them. "I haven't finished explaining!"

Noire stepped back. "Okay, hurry up and finish so that I can prove this girl wrong."

"Hey, I'm not just some girl! I have a name and it's Neptune!"

We ignored Neptune's comment. "It is possible that these two came from a different dimension. First, it explains the strange connection I have with these two and, if they're is being honest, I can contact the Histoire in their dimension."

"Really?! Is it like an app or something?" Histoire shook her head.

"Okay, then start contacting her."

Mini Histoire nodded. Her eyes began to glow. "Fssshhhh...Brnnng...Ding...Ding...(o.o)"

"Um..." Why was she making noises?

"Ba-dum...ba-dum...ba-dum..." And now Plutia's making noises too. Great.

"Hey! What's with the wait Mini Histy? I need to prove Noire wrong!"

Mini Histoire snapped from her trance. "It takes a long time! I can't go that fast!(_)"

Plutia sighed. "Aaaaaw... Come on, Histy! Do it better!"

"How long do you think it'll take for you to get done?" I asked.

"Mmgh... If I'm going as fast as I can, it will take three days," Three days!? "At the least."

"But—"

Mini Histoire shook her head. "I cannot be disturbed during this process, so I suggest you do something else for the next few days." Her eyes began to glow once again. "Brrrnngg...Dong...Dong...Fsshh..." Great.

I sighed as I turned back to the girls. "Well, you girls heard her. So, what do you guys want to do for the next few days?"

They all shrugged. Great...

* * *

"…" Man, these shows are all so low quality.

I was now sitting in the living room watching some TV. Mini Histoire, which was her new name, was still trying to establish a connection, Plutia and Neptune were napping together and Noire had gone to do some "private business". So, I was left alone to do something.

Since Plutia and Neptune were napping, I had left their room to go to the living room. If you were to live in this Basilicom and start in Plutia's room, after you walked out of her room, you were led to a colorful hallway with multiple doors. One door led to Histoire's room, two doors were reserved for guests; one for Noire; one for me, and the two last doors led to a restroom and a bathroom.

Past the hallway was the living room. The walls were an orange color with a flower design. The flooring was also made of a soft green material and there was a large pink rug under the couch. The couch was a pink color with some dolls sitting on it, some lavender pillows and a pink blanket. There were also two lilac armchairs facing the flat screen TV, which, like the one in Plutia's room, had a console hooked up to it. Also, there was a glass panel on the left wall of the living room.

Opposite of the living room, there was a kitchen and dining table. The kitchen had gray, marble countertops with purple stools pushed close against the counter, multiple red cabinets, the walls were checkered black and white and there was a sink pressed against the corner beside a dish rack. Finally, a bit past the kitchen, there was a purple, plastic dining table with several chairs pushed in.

As I stared blankly at the television screen, I thought about what was going on. This place was a place where you weren't born a CPU, but rather could become one with a CPU Memory. Not only that, but Planeptune's CPU was Plutia, not Neptune. Also, there was another Noire, who acted the same but dressed differently and wasn't a CPU yet, another Blanc, who I had yet to meet and another Histoire, who was smaller and cuter. To add on to that, the fact that neither Histoire or Noire seemed to know Neptune and I played a part in this as well, along with the fact that Lastation didn't seem to exist yet. If you pieced it all together, the idea of us falling into an alternate dimension didn't seem so far-fetched.

I sighed. I really wasn't in the mood for thinking. "Man, maybe I can go do something better than sit around all day. It's so boring here." I pulled myself off of the couch. Maybe I could go do some quests. But all that was on my mind was Nepgear...

* * *

"Yay! We finished again!" Neptune pumped her fist into the air.

"Yaaaay! We did it soooo fast too!" Plutia high fived with Neptune.

Noire sighed. "You two barely did any work. Silver and I did most of the work for you two."

"Nuh-uh! Remember how we killed that horde of monsters!?" Neptune pointed out.

Opening the door back to Plutia's room, I chuckled. "Yeah, it only took you two thirty minutes to defeat a horde of eight Dogoos."

"Hey! It wasn't eight, it was nine!" Neptune held up nine fingers.

"Still, that's pretty sad..."

"Aaaaw... You two are so mean!" Plutia frowned.

Noire sighed. "Well it doesn't matter. I'll be off again," she stated as she began to walk out of the door.

"Oh, oh, oh! Noire, can I come with you this time?" Plutia asked.

Noire smiled back at Plutia sympathetically. "Sorry Plutia. But, it would just take longer if you came with me," Noire clicked the door shut behind her.

Plutia slumped over. "Awww... I really wanted to go this time..."

I patted Plutia's head. "It's alright," I smiled at her. "By the way, where does she go anyways? It must be personal if she won't even let you go."

Plutia shook her head and smiled brightly. "Nooo... It's just that ever since I became a CPU, Noire's been looking for a CPU Memory eeeverday!"

At this statement, Neptune perked up. "Really!? Then what're are we standing around here for!? I need to get one before she does!"

I shrugged. "I don't need one. So, I'll just stay here."

Neptune tugged one my arm. "C'mon Silver! If you don't come, then it'll be lonely! Plus, you're going to be our fail-safe!" Is that what I've been demoted to?

I sighed. At this point, I give up. "Y'know what? Sure, I got nothing better to do anyways."

"Buuut... Noire said that I couldn't go..." Plutia said.

"But if you don't come with us, we'll leave you behind!" Neptune warned as she pulled me out of the room with her. "Let's go find Noire and get a CPU Memory!"

"Waaait up Neppy!" Plutia cried out.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Well, here's another chapter done. I might not get any chapters out next week because the computer I use to write will be taken away. So, I'm planning on getting a laptop so that I can write more frequently. I'm hoping to get it shipped in by next week so that I can keep my upload schedule. But we won't talk about that until that happens. I just wanted to let you all know if it does happen. If, for some reason, you don't know why, then go check my page next week. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	57. Chapter 57

Chapter 57

We were now in the ruins of a temple. Mossed crawled up the walls and cracked beige bricks. The walls were chipped, bits of the wall were broken off—allowing light to filter in—and there was dust everywhere.

After jogging around for a bit to get to where Noire was, we finally caught sight of her off in the distance.

"Heeeey! Noire, wait up!" Plutia cried out.

Once we had caught up with Noire, she spun around and saw us. "What are you guys doing here? I told you not to follow me!"

"It doesn't matter! I'm not letting you become a CPU before I do, Noire!" Neptune exclaimed.

"Okay, but why are Plutia and Silver here?"

I shrugged. "Neptune dragged me along."

Plutia nodded. "Neppy said that I'd be left alone if I didn't come with you guys..."

Noire sighed. "Well, I can't stop you now."

* * *

"Uuugh..." Neptune slumped over. "Hey, Noire. Are we there yet?"

"No."

"How about now?"

"No..."

"Now?"

"NO!" Noire blurted. "Geez, look! It's right up ahead!" She pointed towards a clearing up ahead.

"Oh! Score, now I can get ahead of Noire again!" Neptune sprinted towards the area in front of her.

"Hey! I'm going to become a CPU before you! Wait up!" Noire called out as she dashed after Neptune.

"Heeey! Wait for me, you two!" Plutia chased after them.

I shrugged. "I'm not in a rush."

*Smack!*

Neptune came to a sudden stop and collided heads with Noire, causing both of them to tumble to the ground. "Ow! Neptune, why'd you stop so suddenly!"

Neptune pointed towards the sight in front of her. "Lookit! There be people!"

As Neptune and Noire stared at the people standing before them, Plutia and I caught up. "*Huff*…*Puff*… You guys...are going waaay to fast..." She gazed up at the people standing in front of us. "Huh? Aaaw... There's a cute little rat!"

Before us, stood some old, witch lady and a small rat.

The witch lady had a gothic feel to her. Her skin is a pale gray color, her short purplish white hair matched her skin tone, she had cat-like piercing, red eyes, she wore makeup with dark colors and a large black witch hat with gold lining along with a heart-shaped center that held a red gem along with a furry purple collar. Her outfit was strange. Think of a black bunny costume with red jewel accessories and gold lining—without the bunny ears—that extended down to her legs, but with most of the abdomen part removed to reveal her stomach. Also, she had cut-off, spiked black and purple sleeves and black boots with furry boots. Man, this lady seemed old.

Beside her, there stood a small gray rat. He had a pair of large red eyes, two white whiskers on each cheek and a pair of tiny red demon wings attached to his back, allowing him to fly. He also had stubby limbs, a heart—half yellow and half red—on his chest, his black tail was shaped like a heart at the end and he wore a pair of red boots with yellow stripes.

What a strange duo of people.

The two of them seemed to be holding two items that resembled a standard CPU processor. The only difference was that it was shaped like a small diamond.

Noire pointed towards them. "Look! They have CPU Memories and, not only that, but they have TWO of them!"

Neptune gasped. "Wow! That's so plot convenient!"

"Hehehe... Awww...look how cute that rat is," Plutia commented.

We all ran after them. "Hey! Old witch lady, stop!" Neptune called out.

The duo turned around. "What do you two want?" The witch asked.

"Uh, isn't it obvious?" Noire pointed at the CPU Memories. "Give us those CPU Memories and you guys can walk away unscathed."

The witch let out a laugh. "You must be crazy if you think I'm going to be giving these things two you! Huh?" She cocked her head when her eyes landed upon Neptune. "You," she jabbed a finger towards Neptune.

Neptune looked around her before pointing back at herself. "Who, me?"

"Yes, you! Are you...Neptune?"

Neptune puffed out her chest. "Wow! Even old hags know me now! I must already be popular here!"

The witch's lady twisted into disgust. "Because if you are...you are the one person that I hate the most in all of Gamindustri!"

"Huh? But we haven't even met before? Why would you hate me already?"

The witch smirked. "Hey rat," she dropped the CPU Memories into the rat's stubby arms. "Go take these back. I'll eliminate these brats."

"Wow, I guess an old hag CAN be nice, chu."

"Shut it! Now, I, Arfoire of the Seven Sages, will end your lives here!" Like Abnes, a text box appeared displaying her name, only these colors were gothic with a witch theme. Do all the Seven Sages members have these?

"Hey! Why'd you reveal yourself, chu?"

"It doesn't matter. They won't be able to remember it when they're dead."

"Well, whatever, chu." The rat scurried away.

"Hey! Get back here!"

Before we could give chase to the rat, Arfoire quickly stepped in front of us. "Where do you all think you're going? I'M your opponent!"

Noire gritted her teeth. "Grr... Damnit!"

"You should feel honored. Because I won't hold back against you three," Arfoire smirked and a dark light enveloped Arfoire.

When the light faded away, Arfoire's appearance had changed. She now had on a rabbit-like mask, She still wore the strange, bunny-like suit, but her hair had grown out a bit and allowed two hair strands to stick out. She now held a black, three-pronged trident with purple crystal-like prongs at the end. Also, she now had a pair of purple wings outlined by a black metal. Really, she just looked like a furry version of an evil CPU.

"Now...you will all know true terror as you beg for mercy!"

I unsheathed my blade and set my body's limit to act at a hundred percent. This lady would be no joke.

"C'mon, it's three on one. There's no way we're going to lose!" Noire claimed.

I shook my head. "No, if you keep thinking like that, we WILL lose. This lady is stronger than she appears to be. She may be outnumbered and old, but she's still strong. So keep your guard up."

"Hahaha! Well, looks like one of you does have some common sense!" She pointed her trident at us. "It's the only compliment you'll get before you die!"

I activated Level Two. "Well, that makes me want to beat your face in more now. Your 'compliment' just made me want to throw up my insides." I took a stance. "Noire, Neptune! Get ready!"

They nodded. "Right!"

Arfoire simply just stared us down through her mask's narrow eye slits. "Well...sayanora."

*Bang!*

In an instant, she was already in my face. She thrusted her weapon at me. For some reason, I punched the weapon away and a loud ringing sound filled the air. I examined my knuckles. "Well, I'm gonna need a lot of bandages later..."

I returned my attention to the fight. I slowed down time and stepped towards Arfoire. However, she could still move pretty fast even if time was slowed down. I dropped down to the ground and sweeped at her feet. She jumped into the air and clawed down at me.

*Clang!* *Sk!* *Bang!* *Crack!* *Crash!*

I rolled to the side as she materialized another trident in her opposite hand and thrusted it down at me. I kicked myself back to my feet and aimed an uppercut slash towards Arfoire's weapon. The blade made contact with the trident and it flew away, leaving Arfoire open for an attack. I jumped up towards her and quickly cut at her horizontally. Before she could move back, the cold metal made contact with her and left a thin tear into her flesh across her belly, leaving a trickle of blood.

Right when I landed back onto the ground, Arfoire materialized another weapon—a long sword this time—before lunging at me. "…!"

From behind, Neptune and Noire both thrusted their blades at Arfoire's back. She performed a one-eighty spin, knocking away the girls' weapons, and kicked them away. However, this left me with another opening. I quickly transferred some Devil energy into my right hand and punched her in the jaw, slightly cracking her hard mask and sending her crashing to the ground. I sighed, took another stance and resumed time.

"What's the matter, hag? I thought we wouldn't be able to remember your name after you swiftly killed us," I taunted. "Actually, I still almost forgot your name. Names like 'old lady' or 'hag' suit you better anyways."

She gritted her teeth. "Why you damn little—Gah!"

*SHK!*

Neptune had, yet again, sneaked up behind Arfoire and stabbed her in her stomach. "Gotcha!"

Blood began to trickle out of her. "Heh, don't think it's that easy."

"HUH!? She's still breathing!?"

*Crack!*

Arfoire punched Neptune in the gut and kicked her away. Arfoire smirked and pulled out Neptune's blade. But how can she still move!? "…!" She quickly threw both her blade to her right and pinned Noire to a mossy wall. Then, a dark energy filled in Arfoire's wounds and healed them. However, it left Arfoire breathless.

I whistled lowly. "Man, you're really no joke, are you?"

"I could say the same about you, boy," she switched her attention to me. "Tell me something. Are you using all of your strength yet?"

I put my arms into the air. "I'll be honest. You caught me. I'm probably only using fifty percent of it right now."

She cocked her head. "Oh? Then how about I enlightened you also. I've also been holding back."

I smirked. "Really? Then how we both go all out? No holding bars?"

Arfoire let out a laugh. "I like the way you think, boy! If we weren't on opposite sides, I'd think you'd make a great rival."

"Well, sorry to disappoint you."

"Now, shall we?"

"Wait just one moment, you two naughty kids!"

Before we could do anything, a cold voice rang in our ears. We both turned to the direction of the voice. "Oh... Well then..."

Standing before us was a woman with long, messy dark purple hair and gleaming bright red eyes. She wore a black, tank top-like piece held up by thin straps and buttons with multiple holes, revealing her abdomen. She wore a black neck piece with a round center—holding a glowing blue middle—which connected to a black bikini-like bottom, extending down to her legs. To add on to that, she also wore black tricep-high gloves that clung to her skin along with black, heel-like boots with pink lining and a pair of pink and black earrings. I don't know how I feel about his girl. She had an aura that reminded me of Spawns and their Devils.

In her hands, she held two things. In her right hand, she was dragging the rat from earlier by the end of his tail and in her other hand, she held a loosely held-together black and pink blade with multiple portions of the blade loosely connected by a metal wire. Could that blade be put together?

"Who the hell are you?" Arfoire asked. "I'm in the middle of something."

"Aw, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I came to return your dirty little rat friend to you. He's not worth my time," she smirked and lobbed the rat towards Arfoire's head.

*CRASH!*

Arfoire tilted her head a bit to the right, allowing the rat to pass her and impale himself into the aged walls.

Neptune stared, puzzled by the woman standing in front of us. "Wait, is that lady a dominatrix?" She asked as she crawled to her feet. "Great. Now, not only do we have an angry old hag to fight, but we also have a dominatrix to fight. Man, I thought we were supposed to have plot convenience on our side. What do you think we should do, Noire?"

Noire, who had unpinned herself from the blades, stared at the dominatrix in terror. "Plutia... Why did you have to transform!? I told you so many times NOT to transform!"

I was wondering why I couldn't hear or see Plutia anywhere. Wait, THAT dominatrix is Plutia?!

"Aww... But I did this all to save the three of you..."

Neptune sighed. "Oh yeah. Well, at least Plutie doesn't have t—ah..." Suddenly, the realization hit her. "Wait, did you just say that that lady is Plutia?!"

Noire and I nodded.

"Holy crapperoni! Plutie? More like Sadie."

"Hey, brats?"

We all turned to face Arfoire. "What's the matter bitch? Do you need something? If you don't, then do be kind and SHUT UP for a bit, would you?" Plutia, how can you say all that with a smile?!

Arfoire snarled. Well, at least tell me your name."

"Me? Iris Heart," she smiled. "Now, please shut up."

"Sadie" turned to face the three of us. "Now," she flashed the two Memory Cores she held in her hands. "What will you two offer me in exchange for these two oh-so precious items?"

Neptune hugged her body. "Oh no! Anything but my sexy bod! But, I mean if I have to, I guess I can..." Neptune let out a chuckle.

*Smack!*

Noire ran up to Neptune and smacked her atop the head. "Idiot! Why'd you say that!? In this form, Plutia doesn't take jokes! Everything you say to her is literal!"

Plutia smirked. "Oh? Fufufu... What a tempting offer... I think I'll take you up on that!" She turned to Noire. "Now, Noire... What could you possibly offer me with more value than Neppy's body?"

Noire glared at Neptune. "Why'd you offer something so stupid!? Now I have to give something of even greater value! There's no way I can do that!"

"I'm sorry, Noire. But, it can't be that bad, right?"

"Awww... So poor Noire doesn't want her precious item?" Plutia dropped one of the CPU Memories onto the ground and hovered her heel over the CPU Memory. "That's a shame. Well, since I don't need this either, I guess I'll just smash it to tiny bits and pieces!"

Noire's eyes widened. Tears were forming in the corner of her eyelids. "Wait! Wait! Just...please...stop!" Man, I feel bad for Noire.

Plutia sneered. "And what do you have that will stop me from crushing this item you worked SO hard to obtain?"

"I-I'll...do any...thing..."

"What's that? I can't hear you~"

"I'll do any ONE thing you want!" Geez, Noire was practically on the verge of tears.

Plutia let out a maniacal laugh. "That's wonderful! Not only that, but I also got to see Noire's pained faced. I guess you two do deserve these items," she tossed Neptune and Noire the CPU Memories. "Just remember to keep your end of the bargain..."

"Yes, I can finally become a CPU now!"

"Yeah! Although I'm afraid about what will happen later, this is a win for right now! Yay, I'll never age now!" Neptune grinned widely.

Arfoire burst out laughing. "CPU of Planeptune, you do realize what the consequences are if you can't meet the proper requirements of becoming a CPU, don't you? If they fail, they'll turn in monsters. Besides, the chances of becoming one are one in a million!"

Plutia shrugged. "So what? I'll still show them the same amount of 'love'."

"You truly are a cold woman."

"C-Can I really...become a CPU?" Noire questioned herself.

Neptune ignored the warnings. "Doesn't matter! I'm transforming! YOLO!"

"Wait! I'm going to become a CPU before you!"

A bright light enveloped them both, forcing me to shield my eyes.

"Wow..." I whistled lowly after I had uncovered my eyes.

"It's been quite sometime since I've been in this form. It does feel refreshing."

"Yes! I did it! I finally became a CPU! I can't lose now!"

The two girls that had been standing there before had now transformed into CPUs. Both Neptune's and Noire's appearance had changed.

Noire now wore a gray one-piece-swimsuit-like outfit with black lining—revealing her bosom a bit more—held up by two thin black straps that connected to a gray collar piece. Her eye and hair color were still the same, but her hair, instead of flowing down, was still in twin tails and she wore metal-gray hair pieces. On top of that, she had gray stockings lined with black, gray and black boots with gray cuff pieces circling the top of the boots. Also, she wore skin-tight black and gray gloves which had a circular gray device on the wrist area of each arm.

Neptune's HDD appearance had also changed, but only slightly. Her silver lining had been replaced with a lot more blue. Right underneath her breast area, there was no black cloth. Instead, like her bicep region, she wore a purple, skin-tight outfit underneath to cover her exposed stomach. Also, on her collar, she now had a silver 'N' logo on it. But, besides that, there were not many notable changes in her appearance.

"Well, I'll be damned. Looks like my statistics were wrong..."

Neptune laughed. "Why bother with statistics when the evidence is right in front of your eyes!"

"Whatever," Arfoire materialized another three-pronged black trident. "This time I won't hold back. Just as promised."

"Oh, you might not want to," Plutia's detached blade suddenly snapped itself together. "Because I never said you could torture these two without me. So, I'll make sure you feel my wrath!"

I shrugged. "I guess I'll go all out too."

Plutia glanced over at me. "Oh? Do show me this strength of yours. I want to enjoy watching this old bitch agonize in pain."

"Whatever you say..." Upon muttering those final words, I let both of my Devils take over my body. An overwhelming heat rose in my chest and my vision became enveloped by a fiery light...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **So, here's another chapter done. After about two or three more chapters, there will be a bit of filler, maybe. But, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	58. Chapter 58

Chapter 58

 **Third Person POV**

Neptune and Noire were the first to reach Arfoire. In an instant, their faces were inches away from Arfoire's. Before Arfoire could react, Neptune kicked her in the side, making Arfoire stumble back. Then, Noire dashed up towards her and slashed vertically at her.

"Yah!"

*Bang!*

Jumping out of the way, Arfoire dodged Noire's strike by hairs as the impacted area exploded with debris. Before the debris could clear, Neptune quickly slid behind Arfoire and took a swing at her.

"Take this!"

*CRASH!*

Like before, Arfoire dodged the strike and more debris filled the area as she jumped into the air and took flight to escape the smoke. However, Plutia had already flown into the sky and rushed at Arfoire.

"Hahaha! Where do you think you're going!?"

Plutia's blade turned back into the whip-like blade and struck Arfoire with it, as if it were a whip.

*Crack!* *Boom!*

"GAH!" The strike hit Arfoire so hard that she crashed into the ground and created a large crater in the ground.

The now-Devil-consumed Silver laughed maniacally. **"C'mon! That's not good enough! I need to see you suffer more!"** Silver rushed up to Arfoire, kicked her up into the air and pinned her to the wall with his Devil energy-filled blade. He licked his lips. **"Now, I can enjoy torturing you..."**

A cold sweat began to form at the nape of Arfoire's neck.

"Oh, hold on Silvy~" Pluita flew up next to Silver. "Don't start without me." She cracked her whip-like blade and laughed aloud. "HAHAHA! I think I enjoy you more when you're in this form, Silvy!"

Silver smirked. **"You too. Unfortunately, our counterparts aren't like us."**

"It is quite a shame," she turned back to Arfoire. "Now, I hope your body is prepared..."

"Hey! You two! Stop!" Neptune cried out.

Both Silver and Plutia frowned at Neptune's cry, but Silver removed the blade that kept Arfoire pinned to the wall. **"Fine. But I was really looking forward to seeing her pained expression. Especially since I could've done it with somebody else."**

"Don't worry, Silvy," Plutia cast Neptune a suggestive glance. "Maybe Neppy's jealous and wants her turn first..."

Neptune's face reddened. "No! Stop saying things like that and let's just wrap this situation up!"

Silver sighed. **"Aww... You're no fun in this form. Maybe, if you got your turn right now, then it'll loosen you up."**

"Stop it! Let's just hurry and get this over with!"

Silver sighed. **"Fine,"** he turned to face Arfoire, who was collapsed on the ground.

"Man, that fight was so easy," Noire said. "This power is amazing!"

"What a shame, I'm far from my full potential, but fighting somebody as weak as her makes it not a problem," Neptune muttered.

"Damnit! That's not fair! It was three CPUs and some crazy boy against just me! Of course I'd lose!"

"That's not what you were saying earlier," Neptune commented. "I remember you saying something about how you hadn't shown us your full power yet and that we would experience true terror."

"….Damn you all," Arfoire snarled and ran off. "You haven't won yet!"

"Should we give chase to her?" Neptune asked.

Noire shook her head. "Let her go. It's not like she can beat us anyways."

Plutia nodded. "Besides, she wasn't fun to torture anyways."

Silver nodded. **"Yeah, she didn't beg or shed tears. That hag was too boring."**

"It doesn't matter," Noire turned to Plutia. "More importantly, why did you transform!? I told you to never transform!"

Neptune shook her head. "I think we should be thankful to her. Even though Silver was holding his own against Arfoire, she possibly could have overpowered him. Also, Plutie got us both our CPU Memories," Neptune smiled at Plutia. "So, thanks Plutie."

"Aww... Anything for my adorable Neppy," she formed a devilish grin. "However, I think you two should thank me in the way we promised..."

Noire and Neptune stared at her with shock."You were being serious!? C'mon, it was in the heat of the moment!" Noire claimed.

"Oh? So you, Noire, a newly born CPU, dares to lie? I thought you were better than that, Noire," Plutia retorted.

"…" Feeling beaten, Noire closed her mouth.

"Great. Then let's head back to the Basilicom so that we can take as long as we like..." Plutia said.

Neptune gave Noire a hard look. "Noire, we better prepare ourselves mentally before we get back."

Noire only nodded silently. "Y-Yeah..."

* * *

 **Silver's POV**

We were now on a walk back to the Planeptune Basilicom. "Man, it sure is a nice day today."

"…" Hm?

I glanced over at Noire and Neptune, who were now back in their regular forms. They were absolutely silent and were wearing expressions of fear. Was it really going to be THAT traumatizing!?

"It is a niiiiiice day!" Plutia, who was walking in front of us and had reverted back to normal, answered. "There's so much sunshine!"

I nodded. "Well, it actually always is."

"Huuuuh? It is?" She questioned.

I nodded. "Yeah. The reason you never noticed though is because you always spend time sleeping or playing with Neptune INSIDE the Basilicom instead of outside. So, of course you wouldn't notice!"

"Realllly? Wow, maybe I should go outside sometime!" Plutia said.

"See, that sounds like a great idea, doesn't it?"

She giggled. "Yup! Because, if I do go outside, I can not only not get yelled at by Noire aaaand Histy, but I can also take naps!"

Of course. "Well, either way, you'll still be enjoying the sunny days!"

"Oh, oh, oh!" Plutia suddenly blurted out. "What was that thing you did when we for fighting Arsmore?"

"Oh, that," I put began to scratch at my chin. "How do I put it..."

"Huh?"

"Well, when I was a kid, I had a Devil sealed in me, I learned how to control it and I can use it's powers now. But now, I have two of them."

Plutia stared at me blankly. "I don't get it..."

I sighed. "When I was a kid, I had a monster put into me. After playing with the monster for a while, we became friends. Later, we found another monster and we befriended him also. Now, they let me use their powers." That was probably the dumbest thing I have ever said in my entire life.

"Ooh! I get it now! So, you're like a CPU, except you turn into a monster-creature thing!"

I smiled a bit wryly. "Sure... That's close enough."

Plutia giggled once again. "Hehehe... Silvy praised me!" She threw her arms around me.

"Hey! What're you doing!?"

"Silvy is sooo much nicer than Noire!"

I let out a groan. "Whatever," I patted her head.

"Yay! He patted my head!" She squeezed tighter.

I'm not even going to fight against her...

* * *

"We're home, Mini Histy!"

"We're home!"

"Um, I'm hooome!"

"We're back!"

We had just returned to the Basilicom and had just gotten up to the living room. Upon returning, we received no welcoming. I let a laugh escape from my mouth. "Histoire's still probably trying to establish a connection with the other Histoire."

Noire nodded. "Yeah, probably."

"Heeey! We have more funner things to do!" Plutia cried out.

"First of all, funner isn't even a word," I pointed out. "Second, what could you possibly want to do?"

Plutia grinned. "Ehehehe... Well, I'm going to take Noire and Neppy to play with me in the bathroom!"

"WHAT!? You actually remembered that!" Neptune questioned.

"Of course I did! It's going to be soooo much fun!" Plutia giggled.

Neptune sniffled. "At least I lived a good life..."

About an hour had passed and I was now sitting in my bedroom.

The room had a pretty simple design. First off, the room was about the size of a small bookstore. There were oak hardwood floors, the walls and the ceiling were painted white with two sets of fluorescent lights attached to the ceiling. To add on to that, there sat a pinewood nightstand—that had a lamp sitting atop it—beside the white, twin-sized bed and a wardrobe also made of pinewood.

I had borrowed one of Plutia's manga collections and had decided to read through it all while I waited for the girls to finish whatever they were up to. The last thing I had remembered the girls doing, was going to the bathroom and never coming out. I didn't want to know what they were doing in that bathroom, but considering the moaning and what they were saying, I figured it'd be best to leave them undisturbed. So far, I had read twelve volumes and there were twenty volumes in total.

A bit later, after I had finished another volume, I heard voices echo from the hallway. "Ah! That felt so good! Taking baths together sure was great!" Neptune chimed.

Oh, they were just bathing together.

"Yeeeah... We should all do that together again sometime!" Plutia suggested.

I walked out towards the hallway to find them all dressed. "There's no way in hell that I'll ever bathe with you people again!"

I sighed. Nearing them, I noticed their semi-dry hair. "So, how'd it go?"

Noire, her face reddening, groaned and dropped her gaze to the floor. "I-It's none of your buisness!"

"Everyone! Come to Plutia's room quickly! I finally did it! (*^▽^*)"

"Wait, do I hear a mini voice with my mini ears?" Neptune asked as she turned to face the direction of Plutia's room. "Is that you Mini Histy?"

Noire cocked her head. "But Histoire said that she couldn't be disturbed until her connection had been es—" Noire's eyes bulged. "No way! Did she actually do it!?"

The Mini Histoire answered. "Yes, I have finallu established a connection with the other Histoire. Now get over here! (O-O)"

The four of us dashed towards Plutia's room and found Mini Histoire sitting in front of a holographic screen displaying a loading screen. "Hold on. The video feed is loading. (o.o)"

Suddenly, the screen flashed and an image of our Histoire appeared. "Hey! Histy, it's a-me, Neptune!"

"N-No way... She wasn't kidding..." Noire was left speechless.

I chuckled. "We told you, Noire."

Plutia pointed towards the screen. "I can't tell if that Histy is bigger. The screen just makes them look the same..."

Our Histoire ignored Plutia's and Noire's comments. "I can't believe you were actually taken to an alternate dimension. This has never occurred before.."

"Yeah, yeah! Now tell me how to get back because Silver's here too!"

"He is?! Oh, dear," our Histoire sighed. "Well, I'm—"

From the screen, we heard another voice. "Neptune? Silver?" Wait, that voice...

"Wait, Nepgear! Please wait a moment! I'm trying to have a serious conversation with the two of them!"

However, her words were hushed when Nepgear suddenly popped onto the screen. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. "Neptune! Silver! You both disappeared without a word. I...*sniff*...I missed you both so much!"

"Nepgear..." I walked towards the screen and reached my hand forward. But my hand only passed the screen as if it were a goal that could be seen, but not felt in your hands. "I'm sorry..."

"Silver! It's so...*Hic*... It's so lonely without you and Neptune! I don't know what to do!" I smiled. "Don't worry. I'll be back as soon as I can be. I did promise, didn't I?"

Using her sleeve, Nepgear wiped away her tears. "…*Sniff*….Y-Yeah..."

I let out a laugh. "Good. Now quit worrying . I'll return as fast as I can. So, wait for me."

Nepgear nodded. "O-Okay..."

"Now, how about you talk with your big sister?" I suggested as I stepped away from the screen.

"Howdy there, Nep Jr.!" Neptune stepped in front of the screen and waved.

"Pssst... Noire..." Plutia whispered over to Noire.

"Y-Yeah?"

"I think that girl on the screen is Neppy's older sister!"

Noire nodded. "No question about it."

Neptune twisted her body over to Plutia and Noire. "Hey, I heard that! I'm having my family time! So be quiet for a bit! Besides, we've been called out on that enough..." She spun back to face Nepgear. "So, how's it been Nep Jr.?"

Nepgear squirmed around a bit. "You two have been gone for so long and I've been worried sick. I thought you left me again..."

"No! I wouldn't do that! I-I'll return as soon as I can!"

Our Histoire spoke up. "Nepgear, now is not the time for this! I'm trying to have a serious conversation with—"

She was cut off by more voices. "Woah! Look Rom! There really is another dimension!" Ram pointed out.

"T-This...is another...dimension?" Rom stepped up close to the screen.

"Woah! There really is another dimension! Wait," Uni gasped. "Is that another Noire!? If I go there, does that mean I'll have two big sisters!?"

"Hey, you guys! I'm trying to talk to Neptune!"

We just watched as the scene unfolded before our very eyes.

"All of you! Stop this instance!" Our Histoire demanded.

"AHHH!" The screen turned to static.

Mini-Histoire blinked. "Well, it seems like the video feed got all choppy. Hold on while I buffer. ( ∵ )"

Noire sighed and stared at Neptune. "Well, it really is your dimension considering how lively it is."

"See! I told you Noire!"

The screen popped up again, and our dimension's Histoire stood there. "Sorry. I had to lock Nepgear and her friends away in another room," she sighed and faced Neptune. "Now, about getting you home."

"Yeah, yeah! How do we do it?"

Our Histoire frowned at this question. "Unfortunately, I don't know yet. You've only recently arrived at this alternate dimension, so this is new to me. I'll call you back once I have devised a solution. Good luck." And like that, the screen disappeared.

"Hey! Wait! Don't do this to me Histy!"

"Neptune... I think she's not there anymore."

Mini-Histoire let out a sigh. "Looks like she hung up. ( ∵ )"

Neptune collapsed to her knees. "Now what'll I do...?"

Plutia smiled at her. "Cheeeeerr up, Neppy!"

Neptune looked up towards Plutia. "Why? I can't get home..."

"Buuutt... I get to keep playing with you and Silvy!" Plutia giggled.

I nudged Neptune's shoulder. "Yeah, cheer up. It's not like you to get depressed anyways."

Neptune looked up at the two of us. "Plutia...Silver..." She shook away her thoughts and smiled. "You're right, let's just play until Histy calls back!"

While Plutia and Neptune chased each other around the room, I glanced over at Noire, who was staring blankly out the window. I walked over to her and took a seat by her. "What's up, Noire?"

She broke from her trance. "Huh? Oh, it's nothing. I'm just thinking about how I'm now a CPU and about founding my own nation. I just don't know if I can do it..."

I placed my hands over her's. "Noire, you're the hardest worker I know. In Neptune's dimension, the you there tries her best and she has the most shares," I smiled at her. "I have faith in you too. But do you have faith in yourself?"

"But, it's just—"

I put a finger to her lip to shush her. "It doesn't matter. Because it doesn't matter if your body gives up on you, but if your will gives up. So, is your will strong enough?"

"Silver..." Noire looked me in the eyes and nodded. "You're right! I can do it!"

I returned her smile. "That's the spirit!"

She giggled and her face reddened. "Hey, Silver..." Noire's arms wrapped around my body. "T-Thank you..."

I returned her embrace and patted her head. "No problem..."

Even though I wasn't leaving, I knew that this was the last time I'd see Noire for a while...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This ends another chapter! Sorry if the fight scene at the beginning wasn't as long as you wanted it to be. But, the next several chapters will be involve events with Silver and the rest of the crew off in the Hyperdimension. It'll start tomorrow with an upload. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	59. Chapter 59

Chapter 59

A few weeks had passed since Histoire's call. The day after, Noire had left and had set off to create her nation that she decided to name, of course, Lastation. Everyday, Plutia and Neptune would either nap together or play together. Normally, I would push them to do their work, but ever since I saw Nepgear again, I hadn't been as motivated to do anything.

I was on the balcony—that was connected to the living room—staring out towards the nation. The buildings resembled the ones in our Planeptune and there were streets bustled with people and cars. But, the Basilicom we were in was different from the one in Neptune's dimension. The Basilicom building was two towers close by each other that was connected by bridges. The side we were on was for living; the other side was meant for work. The thin towers were made of an advanced metal, were lined with purple and were slanted towards the top to create a pointed top. We were on the left side.

The wind brushed my hair as I watched the people go on with their everyday business. "I wonder how others would feel if they were taken to a completely different place..." I thought aloud. "Or if they were stripped of their childhood and became a vessel..." I leaned against the railing and sighed. "Maybe I'm just jealous."

Suddenly, an idea clicked into my head. "Maybe there are Spawns living here too," I shrugged. "It wouldn't hurt to try to try to find out..."

I pulled out my phone. Since arriving here, I hadn't even touched the thing. Plus, I doubted this thing worked. I clicked the white button, but the screen didn't pop up. I sighed. "Guess I'll just have to do this the old fashion way..." I walked towards the elevator. Yes, there was an elevator.

* * *

I sighed as I finished my sandwich. "Maybe Neptune's laziness has started influencing me," I shrugged. I had decided to send some of my Devils' energy to look for some other Devil energy while I sat in a restaurant eating a sandwich. If more energy existed in this dimension, there had to be other Spawns here.

Upon finishing my sandwich, paying the bill and walking out of the restaurant, the energy I had sent out returned. They all shared the same blue color. "So there's only one other Spawn here, huh?"

I stretched my body and commanded the energy to lead me to the other Spawn. Man, I truly was bored if I was out looking for other Spawns. I began a light jog once the energy orbs sped up their pace. Hopefully, the Spawn is a good person. I doubt it though.

* * *

"Hm?" The orbs of energy had led me to a cliff on a mountain range out on the outskirts of Planeptune. Standing ahead of me was an old man at a cliff's edge, gazing up at the blue sky.

The old man had shaggy silver hair, had a tanned complexion and a slightly thinner build compared to mine. He wore a tattered, dirty white tank top and a pair of resewed, ripped black jeans. On his wrists, he wore broken-off dungeon cuffs and a pair of gray boots with black buckles.

Since his top was torn, I could see the red "tattoo" that all Spawns knew too well. It was the mark of where your Devil was sealed. It was the sealing mark that kept your Devil(s) locked inside of you.

I commanded the energy to disappear and, slowly, I began to approach him.

The second I took a step, his head turned away from the sky and he glanced over at me. His crimson eyes glinted at me. "Well, if it isn't Silver..." The man's voice was croaky. "Never imagined you would wind up here too..."

I stopped advancing forward. "H-How do you know me?"

He sat down on the ground and turned back towards the clouds. "Well, you and Tolise were the infamous killers of our dimension," he picked up a small rock and threw it towards the sun. "Plus, I've known of you for quite some time and have been watching over you."

I scratched my head. "Are you sure you got the right guy?" I pointed towards the elder's back. "Because I'm pretty sure I've never met you in my entire lifetime."

The old man picked himself back off the ground and, again, turned back to me. "Just because you've never noticed someone, doesn't mean that they don't know you."

I frowned. "Well, then who are you?"

He smiled and his body began to heal itself, allowing him to age back to when he was young. His transformation finished and I dropped my jaw. "I-Is this some kind of joke?"

The man looked like me, but with shaggy hair and had red eyes. He burst out laughing. "Now do you know who I am?"

I shook my head. "No. I actually think I'm more confused now..."

His form changed back to an old man. "I am your—"

I held up my hands. "Wait, wait! Are you going to say you're my father!?" I asked. "Because this is not Star Wars!"

He let out a chuckle. "Well, it's true that I'm not your father and that I'm not making any Star Wars references, but I am somebody like that."

"Then who in the hell are you?"

He smiled. "I'm your father's brother."

"… What?!" My mouth fell open as I yelled out my shock. "But... I... How?!"

Walking towards me, he spoke, "Simple. Your diseased father simply never told you and your mother was a crazy bitch," He rested his hand onto my shoulder. "Get it?"

I swallowed hard. "If what you're saying is true, then do you know how my father died?"

For a second, his face showed turmoil before a shadow casted over his face. "I can tell you... It's just that... You won't like why..." His grip on my shoulder tightened, he gritted his teeth and his eyes flashed anger. "'We' were all just puppets held against 'their' will..."

I was starting to become curious. "Whose?"

The man sighed. "The Darkness. Back then, people believed that the Darkness was a feeling that we had: an emotion. But it wasn't. Things we believed weren't true began reality. Demons spurred from altars, all horror stories came true and thoughts we believed to just be thoughts became living entities. And, as stories and feelings all mutated, the truth began to change how we all thought. And to top that off, the world's Darkness wasn't just a some invisible thing that we referred to as just the world's end, but it was a living entity."

The Darkness was something that was slowly consuming the world and driving us all to madness; we had no way of stopping it. But your father—a scientist—proposed an idea to slow down and possibly end the Darkness's infestation. He believed that a soul with great enough evil and strength could possibly absorb the Darkness and contain it, but he didn't know what spirit to use. After awhile, he figured out that not only did Demons exist, but so did Devils. He knew of the Devil that had once given you his Genes and that other Devils existed. Unlike Demons, there wasn't a limited amount, but an infinite amount. They were all created by the fear and pain of others. So, your father planned something. He knew that you would be born soon, so he planned to seal the first Devil he found inside of you."

I gulped. Sweat trickled down my neck. "But then... Why did he die?"

The man nodded. "The first physical Devil he found was the strongest one we had ever found. It was unrivaled in it's strength and had taken a liking to your father. We had just set everything up for the ritual to occur once you were born, but the Darkness reached us right before the ritual could begin. Knowing this, your father told me to watch over you and to continue the project. So I ran and continued his experiment elsewhere. It eventually turned into a government organization and we began to take children to see if they could handle it. Naturally, you were the first one we experimented on with our original Devil. After your success, we put more children to the test with only five percent of them succeeding."

I cast him a look. "Then why are you a Spawn?"

"Because, we knew that there would be an uprising with the Spawns. So our organization sealed the remaining Devils we had into us and went into hiding with the rest of you Spawns. But we had sealed Devils into millions of children and we believed that maybe a small percentage of those children would try to stop the Darkness. I went into hiding and watched you grow..."

"And you monitored my actions with Tolise, didn't you?"

He nodded. "That's right. You two were the ones that had decided to put an end to the madness in our dimension."

"…"

"Do you understand now?"

I pushed away from him and went to sit at the cliff's edge, looking up towards the sky. "But why'd you pick me?"

"Your father had faith in you. He believed you could bring peace to the world. He even went as far as to sacrifice himself to the Darkness for your sake."

I stared at my hand. Was I really the one who could bring peace to this world? I was just a boy who wanted to make the world a better place. I hadn't even managed to kill the Darkness, I had only managed to seal it in me. "But can I really? I don't even know what I'm doing in this world. I don't know how I'm supposed to do it..."

The man turned back to me. "You have the support of all your loved ones. You may have not killed the Darkness in our dimension, but you managed to seal it in you. If you can defeat it, then you really are the one who can make the world a better place."

I sighed. "But what about 'that' thing the Darkness will do to me?"

"Like I said, if you can defeat the Darkness, you can make the world a better place. It doesn't matter the situation, if you defeat the Darkness, the world will certainly change for the better."

"Alright, I guess you're right," I rose to my feet and walked up to the man. "But, if that's the case, at least tell me your name."

"Demet," he stretched out his hand. "I already know your name."

I firmly shook Demet's hand. "Good to meet you, but why are you telling me all of this?"

Demet grin widened. "Because I feel like you should know," he firmly put his hand on my shoulder. "Also, I'll train you."

"What do you mean you'll train me? What're you training me in?"

He formed a blade with his Devil's energy. "You may be able to control both your Devils, but, when the time comes, how will you overcome the Darkness?"

"I...don't know."

Demet smiled. "Then let me train you to be able to fight the Darkness."

I nodded. "Okay, sure."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This chapter is somewhat of a filler chapter. It tells about what happened with Silver and his birth. It also introduces a new character. The next few chapters will be about the other characters. But that's all I got to say for now. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	60. Chapter 60

Chapter 60

 **Hikan's POV**

I blew off the white dandelion petals, watching them drift away only to be caught by the wind before I tossed the rest of the plant away. I let out a sigh and lay down onto the bright green hill's soft grass, looking to my left.

"…" Blanc—who sat on a log quietly in the sunlight—read her book. After noticing me gazing at her, she set her book aside to focus on me. "What's up? Is there something on my face?" She began to feel around her face.

I let out a laugh. "No, there's nothing on your face," I set her hand back down and stroked her short hair. "I was just thinking about how nice it was to spend time with you."

Her face reddened a bit. "W-What the hell are you saying?! Are you trying to make me mad!?"

I poked her nose. "Nope. I'm just speaking my mind! What's wrong, do you not like it?"

"N-No..." Blanc turned away from me. "I'm...happy that you think that..."

I sat beside her on the log. "Well of course I think that. I know you're sometimes stressed and get easily angered. So I think that giving you some peace and quiet every now and then makes you feel better."

Blanc nodded. "I do, so thank you."

Forming a smile, I spoke, "Anything for you," I patted her head. "By the way, have you heard about Neptune and Silver yet?"

Blanc cocked her head. "What about them? Did they start dating or something?"

I burst out laughing, tumbling off the log. "HAHAHAHA! I'm pretty sure Silver would never do something like that," I wiped away the tears that had formed at the corners of my eyelids. "No, it's something else."

"What is it?"

"A few hours ago, Histy got off a call with them. Apparently, they're currently in a different dimension and they have no way of returning."

Blanc shrugged. "I don't mind Neptune being gone now. It'll be less noise to deal with if I visit you," Blanc picked up her book and examined it. "But Silver is gone and he was one of the only ones who enjoyed reading with us. Do you know when they will return?"

I shook my head. "No. It doesn't help that that Citizens Group have started to gain more followers either."

Blanc nodded. "I heard about that. But do you really think it could be a threat to us?"

I looked up towards the sky. "Only time will tell..."

Upon returning home, I noticed Nepgear on the couch, with her face buried into a large, stuffed bunny. What happened to her? I approached her and knelt down beside her. "Gear, what's wrong?"

Nepgear quietly sobbed into the bunny's chest. "I...*hic*….I should've gone with Neptune and Silver! I-If I had...*sniff*….they would've still been here!" Her sobs grew louder.

I patted her head. "It's not your fault that the two of them were teleported to a different dimension. Even if you had gone with them, the result would've probably ended the same. You can't change that."

Nepgear looked up from her bunny. "Yeah...*sniff*...b-but I feel like I was responsible for this!"

I lifted her chin, making her face me. "Listen, I'm sure Silver is in pain because he can't be with you either. But he's trying his best to get home to you and you should too."

"B-but...what about—"

I put a finger to her lip to shush her. "What were the things that Silver promised to you?"

Using her sleeve, Nepgear wiped away her tears. "H-He told me that he'd always protect me...and that he'd never leave me alone...and that he'd always be there for me; that he cared about me."

I nodded. "Yeah. And has he ever lied to you before now?"

Nepgear shook her head. "No... He's always been honest with me."

"And do you think he's lying this time?"

Nepgear sniffled. "W-Well..." She shook her head and smiled. "No, I don't think he's lying. You're right! Silver will return! I'm sorry for being all sad around you!"

I smiled before pulling her into a hug. "It's not a problem. You're precious to me, so I don't want to see you looking down."

Nepgear nodded. "Okay!"

I stood back up and looked out the window behind Nepgear. It was starting to get dark. "Now, how about I go cook us all some food?"

"Sure!"

* * *

 **Silver's POV**

"HAH!"

*BOOM!*

I slowly retracted my fist as the human-shaped energy dematerialized. The boulder that rested behind it now had a giant crack in it. Good thing this wasn't anyone's property.

"Good. You're getting better at this," Demet complimented as he commanded his energy to disappear.

I collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. Cold droplets of sweat were trickling down my back as I breathed heavily. "Haa... Haaa... Haa..."

*Clank* *Clink*

I looked up to see a metal canteen bottle rolling towards me. Using the last of my strength, I forced my body to grab the bottle, twist the lid off and I chugged down the bottle's contents, which was water. The cold liquid washed down my mouth and into my body, cooling and refilling me with energy. Water really does taste great, especially after workouts. Once the last drop of water had touched my lips, I tossed the canteen to the side and wiped my mouth.

I glanced up at Demet. "Hey, I got a question."

"Yeah, what's up, kid?"

I examined my body. "…!" I swiped the air and caught a fly in my hand. I let it go before speaking, "I understand that this is training my senses, but how is this preparing me to fight against the Darkness?"

Demet sighed. "Man, and here I was thinking that you were smart..."

"Shut up!"

He picked up a rock and tossed it at me. "Here."

After catching it, I examined it. It really was just a rock. "Yeah. What do I do with it?"

"What do you see?"

I looked back down. "U-Um, I guess I see a rock. So?"

Demet shook his head. "Wrong. You see a rock, but I see a body."

"A body?" I put the rock close to my eye. "This is no body! It's literally just a rock!"

Demet groaned. "No. Think of it like this. Everything has a physical form; their body, and they also have a mind; a brain or nucleus. Now what about that rock?"

I examined the rock once again. "Um, it's body is hard... I guess?"

Demet nodded. "And what about it's mind?"

"Um..." I thought for a second. Rocks don't have a nucleus or a brain. "They don't have one?"

"Can you prove it to me?"

I shrugged and slammed the rock into the ground, splitting the rock in half. I picked up a side of the rock and showed him the insides. "See? Nothing but minerals," I quickly added. "What's the point in asking me this?"

Demet groaned. "Sometimes you can be so smart but so gullible."

I frowned. "Just tell me!"

"Well, what does a rock have?" Demet asked again.

"A body?"

He made a circular motion with his hand that signaled for me to further explain myself. "And?"

"Um, and it has no mind?"

"Yes."

I tossed the rock aside. "Yeah, so?"

"Why do you think I'm training you're senses and not your body?"

I shrugged. "Because it helps me move?"

Demet facepalmed. "No. Listen, no matter how strong you are physically," he pointed towards the cracked rock. "Like that rock, if you can't think or use your mind properly, how will you defeat the Darkness? You can't just punch yourself. You'll only end up hurting yourself."

I nodded. "So, you're training my senses so that I can strengthen my mind?"

Demet shrugged. "Somewhat. This won't be the only exercise we do."

I slumped over. "So you're telling me that I haven't even scratched the surface yet?"

He nodded before forming more enemies made from his Devil Energy. "Nope. Just keep training for now."

"Fine," I sighed and refilled my blade with my Devils' energy. "I swear, you're trying to kill me..."

*Bang!*

* * *

 **Hikan's POV**

*Clang!*

I reflected Blanc's strike back, causing her hammer to be forced to the right, and stepped forward to slash at her with my blade. "Yah!"

*Fwmph!*

She pulled herself back as my blade's flames missed her by centimeters. "Hah!"

*Thud!*

She kicked at me and I stumbled backwards. Blanc repositioned herself as I also repositioned myself. "I thought we were playing fair today!"

She let out a chuckle. "You should know better than anyone that I don't play fair! Especially if this were real battle," she raised her hammer.

I sighed and also raised my weapon. "Whatever. If that's how it is, then I'll also play unfair."

*Bang!* *Fsh!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

I rushed towards her and increased my speed, catching her by surprise. I slashed at her, but she managed to block it as I dashed past her. Right before she could recover, I increased the amount of flames my blades produced and rushed at her again. She managed to block it once again, staggering back while I continued to repeat the movement, only allowing her to block my strikes.

"Haa... Haa... Haa..."

*FFWWPHM!*

Once Blanc's stamina had worn down a bit, I flew into the sky and commanded the flames—that were now encircling her—to grow in intensity. The flames rose high towards the sky and created a wall of fire around Blanc, who was now sweating.

*FFFWWH!* *FWSH!*

"I told you that I wouldn't play fair anymore," I reminded her as I gathered all the flames into my blade. The blade's flames took the form of a phoenix and I closed my eyes. I felt the warm heat begin to course through my veins. The heat slowly growing in intensity as if my skin was being burned off. I gritted my teeth, pushed past pain, dashed towards Blanc and slammed the phoenix blade down on her. "Hah!"

*CRASH!* *FFWWSH!* *CRACKLE!* *BOOM!* *FSHH!*

* * *

"Ow! Hey, be more careful with that, you dumbass!" Blanc complained as she flinched in pain.

"Sorry," I gently dabbed the rubbing alcohol-filled bandage onto her face. This time, she winched but didn't say anything.

"Why'd you hurt me so badly?" Blanc quietly asked as I continued treating her wounds.

I sighed. "Well, you're the one earlier who said that we should spar. I only followed your orders. Plus you said I could play unfair."

Blanc averted her gaze. "Yeah... But we had to fight... I can't stop thinking about that stupid Citizens Group now."

I nodded. "I know."

Ever since I had that talk with Nepgear two days ago, the Citizens Group had grown in numbers at a rapid pace. Now, everywhere you looked in Planeptune, you could see some walking around. Fearing this, Blanc said we should prepare for the worst by sparring. So, I agreed to spar with her.

"Silver."

"Yeah?"

"Maybe we should be worried..."

I nodded. "Maybe we should, but we shouldn't act yet."

"Then when should we?"

I shrugged. "When the time's right..."

Blanc sighed. "That's an awful vague answer coming from you..."

I smiled. "Sorry. I'll tell you when we should act though."

She smiled. "Alright."

But the truth was, I didn't know when either...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here is another chapter! After the next chapter, the story will shift back into gears with the Ultradimension storyline. On a different note, I didn't get my computer in yet. But I have a few days left to use the other computer before it's taken away, meaning that I can keep writing. My computer should be arriving on Friday, which is the last day of school for me, so I could probably start making more chapters once it arrives! Speaking of Friday, there won't be an upload on Friday because I need to study for a test on that day. Anyways, thanks for reading, and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	61. Chapter 61

Chapter 61

 **Tolise's POV**

"…" I quietly sipped on my coffee as Histoire—who sat atop my head—and I continued reading through her book. "Are you sure there's a method to get those two back home?"

Histoire shrugged her shoulders. "There has to be. This book holds all the records ever recorded in Gamindustri. If something like this had ever occurred before, then the book must know something about it or how to get Neptune and Silver back home..."

"Well, that's a possibility, sure. But who's to say that something like this HAS occurred before? What if they can't return home?" I questioned.

Histoire wiggled her finger. "It's not impossible until proven impossible," Histoire stated.

I looked up at her and asked, "Are you trying to quote Pearl Buck?"

She smiled. "Did I get the quote right?"

I shook my head. "Well, you were close. But we should focus on working."

She nodded and we continued looking through the book.

Two days had passed since Histoire's call with Neptune and Silver. Apparently, they were transported to a different dimension. Ever since their call, Nepgear has been sulking about Neptune and Silver's disappearance, Hikan has been training with Blanc because they believed in a worst-case scenario, the Citizens group were starting to gain followers at a rapid rate and Histoire and I had spent the last two days trying to figure out a way to return Silver and Neptune home.

It was probably midday by now, and we had read about seventy-five percent of the tome. I sighed. "Histoire, why can't you just read this really quickly? You're the tome here, so shouldn't you have some power that let's you read really fast or something?"

Histoire shook her head. "I do not. If I had such an ability, then I would have all of Neptune's work done in an hour. Instead, since I don't have such an ability, it takes me weeks just to complete a single stack of her paperwork."

I sighed. "Man, why couldn't I get an ability like that? Silver could've probably figured it out if he had used those energy things."

Histoire poked my forehead. "Yes, but if he were here, then we wouldn't need to do this, would we?"

I slumped over and groaned. "No..."

"Then let's keep working until we figure out an answer. We should finish by the end of today, so it should be fine."

I nodded. "Right..."

* * *

 **Third Person POV**

"Ehehe... Naps sure are great..." Neptune mumbled as she tossed around in the bed, beside Plutia.

Plutia rolled over to Neptune and pulled Neptune close to her like a stuffed animal. "Neppy is sooo soft..."

Mini-Histoire sighed as she watched the two of them with disappointment. "Geez. And here I thought that you two would actually get some work done now that there were two CPUs...(￣□￣)"

Neptune rubbed her eyes and looked over at Mini-Histoire. "But Mini-Histy... Naps are so great and are way better than doing work. Come on, join us!"

"I will do no such thing! \\(≧Д≦)/ " Mini-Histoire began to flail her arms. "You two have been doing nothing but constantly play or sleep with each other! I haven't seen either of you do a second of work!"

Neptune rolled off the bed. "Hey! We've done some work before!"

"Smearing peanut butter and jelly onto a sandwich and pouring a glass of milk is NOT considered work! Those are merely everyday household chores!( ≧Д≦)"

Plutia and Neptune jumped when Mini-Histoire raised her voice. "Yowzers! What's with the yelling Mini-Histy? Are you trying to turn Super Saiyan or something?" Neptune grinned and pointed at Mini-Histoire's hair. "Because you're hair is already golden..."

"NO!" Mini-Histoire's face turned beet red. "IT'S BECAUSE THE TWO OF YOU HAVEN'T DONE A SINGLE BIT OF WORK!( ꒪Д꒪)"

"Well, what about Silver? Why don't you go nag on him instead?" Neptune asked.

"Because, unlike you two, for the past two years, Silver has been away training. So he has an excuse to be gone!(_)"

Neptune and Plutia's eyes shot open. "WHAAATTT!?"

Mini-Histoire plugged her ears. "Ahhh! Don't shout so suddenly like that! You could hurt my ears!（○□○）"

"But! But!" Neptune's arms flailed. "Why did Silver leave!? Did he go to a snake man to get more power so that he could defeat his older brother that killed his clan!?"

Mini-Histoire shook her shook. "I just told you! He has simply gone to train. (o_o)"

"Buuut! It's been twwooo years since he left! How come weee didn't notice?!" Plutia asked.

"Because, again, you two have done simply nothing but play and sleep!(_)"

"Fine!" Neptune jumped to her feet. "We'll just simply go find him!"

"Yeeaah!" Plutia pumped her fist into the air.

"After a nap," Neptune quickly added before flopping back onto the bed.

* * *

 **Silver's POV**

 _I looked around. A void. But not the fiery red one or the black one I was used to, rather a foggy gray void. Unlike my normal dreams or talks with my inner beings, this one made the void's gravity twenty times greater than the other voids. I crouched down to the ground and examined the ground beneath my feet._

 _I cupped some of the silt-like ground into my hand. "Sand, huh?" I watched as the silver sand grains slowly flowed past my hand and back down to the ground. "What is this?"_

 _"GROOAAH!"_

 _*THUMP!* *THUMP!* *THUMP!*_

 _Suddenly, a gigantic beast appeared before me. It was in the shape of a wolf, was the size of a skyscraper, and was completely black, only leaving it's gleaming red eyes visible. The beast seemed to have a presence similar to the Darkness, but, at the same time, it also felt different. More ruthless and merciless._

 _"Who the hell are you?!"_

 _"GRRAHH!"_

 _Before I could utter another word, the Dark Wolf—which was what I was classifying it as—dashed towards me with blinding speed. "..!?"_

 _*Shk!*_

 _The Dark Wolf raised it's claw to me and swiped down. I rolled out of the way just in time to avoid the claws, managing to receive a gash on my back._

 _"Haa...Haa..." I tried again. "WHY THE FUCK CAN'T I ACTIVATE MY DEVILS!?"_

 _Not only did the gravity here weigh more, I was bare handed and couldn't activate my Devils. "Great, I actually have to fight this thing on my own."_

 _I took a stance similar to a wrestler. Honestly, I didn't know how I would put this thing in a headlock or just pin it down to the ground, but I had to somehow stop this thing._

 _"GROAH!"_

 _"…!" The Dark Wolf lunged at me with greater speed than before. This time, I was ready for it. Once it was about a feet away from me, I dashed towards it. Upon seeing my change in movement, it clawed down at me, but—using my hands—I pushed myself into the air and landed atop it's claw._

 _*SHQIK!* *SHWK!*_

 _The Dark Wolf bit at me and I jumped up into the air again. I grabbed it's snout and pulled myself atop it's head. Before it could do anything, I jabbed my hand into it's eye, causing blood to spurt out. Reacting to the pain, the Dark Wolf began to shake it's fur wildly. So I planted my feet into it's fur and clawed my other hand into it's head, causing more blood to trickle out._

 _*CRASH!* *BOOM!* *SHWQK!* *SQK!*_

 _I felt the adrenaline course through my veins as the Dark Wolf bashed me against whatever it could, causing me to tighten my grip on the Dark Wolf. I jumped in front of the Dark Wolf, landing on it's snout, and I dug my feet back into place and jabbed my other hand into it's other eye. More blood poured from it's other eye and the Dark Wolf shook violently._

 _*SQUISH!* *SQUIK!* SHWK!*_

 _I repeatedly clawed at the eye, feeling the warm, chunky flesh along with the cold, sticky blood, over and over. I had probably reached the brain. The Dark Wolf's body collapsed to the ground but continued to bash me against the sand as I clawed at his brain. I felt my body weaken and found myself beginning to lose consciousness, but so was the Dark Wolf._

 _"…!"_

 _*SPLSHH!*_

 _"GROOAAH!"_

 _As the Dark Wolf sank deeper into the sand, a black liquid began to pour out instead of it instead of it's blood. The black liquid splashed onto me as the last of it's now-black blood oozed down it's face. Once the Dark Wolf collapsed onto the ground, I pulled my arms back, feeling the adrenaline leave my body, and observed my arms. They were now stained with the black liquid, blood and flesh. I looked back up at the Dark Wolf._

 _*SPLOOSH!*_

 _"What the hell!?"_

 _The second I looked back at the Dark Wolf, it's entire body changed into the black liquid and it splashed to the ground like paint. I peered down at the liquid that was sinking into the sand. What was this stuff?_

 _*HSSHHZZZ!*_

 _"...Gh!" I crumpled into the liquid as I felt a cold feeling begun to run through my body. My body felt numb and it felt as if something was crawling through it. "….! ...Ngh...Gah!"_

 _*KKSHHZZZSSS!*_

 _The cold feeling suddenly spiked into pain and I felt my body go limp. It felt as if every one of my pressure points were being shot by bullets all at once. The pain was numbing my body and it also burned. "AAAGGH!"_

 _I forced myself to look at my body. "…!"_

 _*HSHHSSZZ!*_

 _Slowly crawling up my body was the dark liquid. It was wrapping around my limbs, meeting at the thorax and then slowly snaking up to my head. The more liquid that wrapped around my body, the more pain that spiked my body._

 _"W-What...are...you!?"_

 _Instead of more intensifying pain following my question, I received an answer._

 _"You already know what I am..."_

 _My eyes widened in shock. That explained so much. The Dark Wolf, it's dark liquid and the liquid that was binding my body._

 _"I-I...guess...this...is my...second...test..." I fell into the sand and curled myself into a ball to try to relieve the pain. However, the pain only continued to grow stronger. "ARGH!"_

 _"Submit to us..."_

 _"You can't win..."_

 _"Peace is a dream; something that never lasts..."_

 _"If you think that humans can get along, then you must be insane..."_

 _"People like you are losers in this world..."_

 _"You're the type of insane person that thinks dreams and goals can actually be achieved..."_

 _"You're a waste to the world..."_

 _These voices... They were similar to the ones that I had heard when I had first absorbed the Darkness._

 _I smiled. "W-Well...at least my observation was correct... Ngh!" I squeezed my eyes shut. It felt as if I was being burned alive, except I could only feel the pain and not have death take me away._

 _"H-How...can...I defeat you!?" I cried out as the Darkness continued to crawl up my skin. Suddenly, I heard a voice._

 _"If you can't think or use your mind properly, how will you defeat the Darkness?"_

 _"T-That's it!"_

 _The answer had been right in front of me the whole time. I stopped struggling against the Darkness and relaxed my body, allowing the Darkness to consume me. My vision was engulfed by Darkness..._

* * *

 _My eyes fluttered open. Black. That was all I saw. The only color that existed was the colors of me and my clothes and black. I tried moving my body, but I couldn't feel it. It was too numb. I could only move my head. I looked down. The Darkness had entirely consumed my body and was snaking it's way up towards my face. I tried speaking but nothing came out._

 _'So,' I thought. 'I guess this is where it ends... I at least thought that my death would be a bit more flashy...'_

 _I closed my eyes to allow the Darkness to entirely consume me as it began crawling up towards my eyes. But, I heard another voice._

 _"Promise me that you will never leave me alone ever again..."_

 _My eyes shot open. I wasn't going to give up! I wasn't going to let the world beat me down! I had made promises to a girl; a girl that I cared deeply about and fell in love with! I had promised her so much, I had formed bonds with others and, if I just suddenly left her and my friends, I couldn't bear to imagine what would happen to them._

 _She was one of the reasons for me becoming what I had become. She and my friends had brought happiness into my life and had gave me reasons to live. If I just suddenly disappeared on them, then I was stripping them of their happiness. That was something I couldn't let myself live with._

 _'Nepgear,' I thought. 'Tolise, Hikan, Noire, Neptune, Blanc, Vert, Uni, Rom, Ram, Histoire, everybody...' I felt a surge of power rush through my veins, making my blood burn. 'I WON'T DIE IN VAIN! I WILL PROTECT ALL OF YOU!'_

 _I forced my body to move. "GRRAAAHHHH!"_

 _I felt the power continue to rise as I began to tear past the Darkness that was consuming me and it slowly began to melt off me. "GRAHH!" I continued to tear off the Darkness as if it were bits of medical tape, burning my body the more I tore off. But the more I tore, the more power that rose from inside me._

 _"HAH!"_

 _*SKRRRZZZ!* *HSSHH!*_

 _I tore at the Darkness one final time and the last remaining bit of it removed itself from my skin. "Haaa... Haaa... Haaa..." I collapsed onto the silver sand, out of breath. At least the Darkness was no longer trying to consume my body. But then again, this was just a test and not the real deal. The burning pain began to subside and the area around me slowly faded back to a mountain top. Demet, who sat atop a boulder, smiled down at me. "Well done, boy..."_

 _I formed a grin, still gasping for air, and let my eyes drift to rest._

 _If this was only a trial, then how strong would I have to be to defeat the real Darkness?_

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And here is another chapter once again! I decided that I would return to the main story tomorrow because it takes so long. But, I will also put another filler chapter after two chapters into the main story's return. But that's all I got to say for now. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	62. Chapter 62

Chapter 62

I firmly shook Demet's hand. "I guess this will be the last time I see you for a while, huh?"

Demet nodded. "That's right. You've really come far in your training. But remember that, no matter what, you'll never be finished. There's always room for you to improve."

I nodded. "You're right. Besides, I'm still unsure if I'm ready to fight against the Darkness yet. But until the time comes, I'll keep training."

He smiled. "Good."

Demet pulled me into a tight embrace and whispered into my ear,"Your father would be proud..."

I silently nodded as I fought back my tears. "I'll see you sometime again..."

"Yeah..."

* * *

I sighed as the Basilicom came into view. "It's good to be home..."

Three years had passed since I fought alongside the CPUs against Arfoire. Since then, Noire has become a CPU and created her own nation called Lastation. Lastation attracted tons of people and it quickly became the nation with the most shares, taking most of Lowee's shares while Planeptune's shares stayed the same. During those three years, I had trained with Demet, learning to sharpen my mind and how to have better self-control. Now, since my training with him had been completed, I was now returning to Planeptune.

I rode the elevator up to the living room area.

*Ding!*

Upon the elevator doors sliding open, I walked towards Plutia's room. As I neared the door, I began to hear muffled yelling from the other end of the door.

"Everyday, you two either just play or sleep! Even though there are two CPUs of Planeptune now, less work seems to be getting done now! (＞Д＜)"

I cracked the door open, letting a slit of light escape from the room. From what I could get, Mini-Histoire was currently lecturing Neptune and Plutia for not doing any of their work.

"It's been three years since Neptune became a CPU! Why can't you two be more like Noire!?( ≧Д≦)"

Plutia's face lit up. "Oh, oh! Yeah! It's been foreeever since we've last seen Noire! She made that nation called...um...Las...Lascation!"

"Lastation! (_)" Mini-Histoire corrected Plutia.

Neptune, who was lying on the floor, jabbed a finger towards Mini-Histoire. "But Histy told me to sit and wait until she calls back, and it's been three years! What else am I supposed to do!?"

Mini-Histoire stuttered. "W-Well...um...true, but—"

"And it's also partially your fault for not being able to connect with the other Histy! If you could, maybe I would actually have something to do to help me get home! But, no! You just have to have terrible processing power!"

"That's it!" (＞Д＜)" Mini-Histoire's face twisted into anger. "I'm sorry that I have terrible processing! But, instead of just waiting around all day for your dimension's me to call! Go learn from Noire NOW! ( `д´) "

As Mini-Histoire, somehow, began to drag Neptune and Plutia out of the room, I quickly closed the door and dashed towards the elevator door to pretend that I had just gotten home.

*Thud!* *Thump!*

Plutia and Neptune were tossed out of the room and onto the hallway floor.

"Ooowww... That hurt my butt!" Plutia rubbed her butt.

Neptune looked back at the room Histoire had just thrown them out of. "Man, I never knew that Mini-Histy could throw us both out of the room," she let out a chuckle. "I just don't get why she can hardly carry a few packs of AA batteries."

Plutia turned her head towards the elevator and let out a gasp. "Hey! Neppy, look! I-It's...um...That's Silvy!" She waved me a greeting. "Heellooo!"

"Huh?" Neptune turned her head towards the elevator, where I stood, awkwardly staring at them. "Holy gravy cakes! HEY! It IS Silver!"

*Thud!*

Neptune tackled me and I was thrown to the ground. "H-Hey! Why are you tackling me!?"

"Cause I missed ya!" She snuggled with my chest. "Hey! Did you get more muscles! Because you're body is like so rock-hard now!" She poked at my chest.

"H-Hey! Quit it! That feels weird!" I pushed her off me. "Geez..."

"Sorry," Neptune scratched her head. "But where'd you go? It's been ages since we last saw you!"

I shrugged. "I had gone to train. What have you two been up to?" I asked.

Neptune puffed out her chest. "Hehehe! You won't believe it, but Plutie and I actually did our work!" She grinned.

"Yeah, you're right. There's no way I'd believe that," I pulled myself back up to my feet. "Anyway, why were you two sitting on the floor?" I questioned as I helped Plutia to her feet.

"Thanks Silvy..." Plutia giggled. "We were napping, but theeeenn Histy kicked us out of the room and told us to go learn how to work from Noire..."

"Noire, huh?" I scratched my chin. "It's been three years since I last saw that girl. I wonder how she's doing..."

Neptune, who had gotten back to her feet, chuckled. "She's probably off being a workaholic and being lonely!"

"Well, she's still a better CPU than you, Neptune," I retorted.

She slumped over. "Baw! You're lecturing me like Mini-Histy!"

I shrugged. "I'm just stating the truth. Now how about we go see Noire?" I asked.

The girls nodded. "Yeah!

* * *

"So, Plutia," I turned to face her. "Why exactly do we have to fight through a dungeon to get to Lastation?"

Plutia shrugged. "I don't knooow. Isn't that how it always is?"

"Nope," I responded. "Not in our dimension. There, you just have bridges to other nations, no dungeons, no monsters."

The three of us were now heading towards Lastation so that we could learn from Noire. Since the girls didn't feel like leaving, I had to drag them out of the Basilicom and into the public. Now, we were in a forest dungeon trying to get to Lastation.

"Wooow..." Plutia let out a yawn. "Hey, hey! Neppy, Silvy!"

We both turned back to her. "What's up Plutie pie?" Neptune asked.

Plutia scratched her head. "Um, weeellll... I just came up with a great idea!"

Neptune gasped. "Really!? The air-headed, always-spaced-out Plutia came up with a good idea!?"

Plutia nodded. "Uh-huuuuh!"

I crossed my arms. "Really? What is it?"

She formed a wide grin and giggled. "Hehehe... Well, since we can't take naps at our Basilicom, how about we go do it at Noire's Basilicom?!"

I facepalmed and let out a groan. Neptune, however, smiled brightly and her eyes sparkled brightly. "Nice idea Plutie! That way we won't get yelled at by Mini-Histy and we could take as many naps as we liked! Good job, Plutie"

Plutia blushed a bit. "Ehehehe... Neppy praised meee!"

I let out a groan. "That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard of..."

"But it's so smart!" Neptune argued. "That way, Mini-Histy can't yell at us and we could sleep for as long as we want!"

I sighed. "But the reason we're going to Lastation is so that you two can learn from Noire, not laze around all day."

Both Neptune and Plutia slumped over. "Awww! We actually have to learn?!" Neptune asked in a disappointed tone.

I nodded. "Yes. Look, you two actually have to learn at least one thing that's important. That's it."

"But—"

"GRRRAAHH!"

In the midst of arguing, we were interrupted by an Ancient Dragon's roar filling our ears. Neptune and Plutia spun around. "A monster?" Plutia's nostrils flared. "You need to move Mr. Monster! I reeeaaally want to go nap! So if you don't get out of my way, I'll have to beat you up!" Damn, somebody is dedicated to their naps.

*Ching!*

A bright light enveloped Plutia and she transformed into her sadist HDD form, creating a chilling presence around her. "Now, for being such a naughty boy and defying my orders..." Plutia grinned. "I'm going to have to punish you real well..."

For a second, the dragon seemed taken aback by Plutia's presence but quickly gathered itself. "Grrrr..."

"Wait, wait! Hold the phone! Why are we transforming!?" Neptune flailed her arms. "It doesn't matter! I can't be outmatched by Sadie! She could do some bad things to me in that form if I'm not strong enough to fight back against her!"

*Ching!*

The white light also enveloped Neptune and she too transformed into her CPU form. "Guess I can't let Sadie run wild. She'll surely cause too much trouble if we let her do whatever she wants."

I nodded. "Yeah, we should make sure she doesn't do anything reckless." I unsheathed my blade and took a stance.

Plutia turned back to me, wearing a puzzled expression. "What's wrong, Silvy? Why don't you let that monster control you so that we can have a great time together?"

I let out a chuckle. "Heh, I won't need it."

Plutia frowned at my claim. "Aww... That's so boring," she sighed before smiling devilishly. "Oh well... I guess I get to have more fun with this naughty thing."

*Crack!*

She materialized her whip blade and cracked it, creating a tiny crack in the rocky ground. "I hope you two will aid me in helping me punish this filthy creature!"

*Bang!*

Before either Neptune or I could voice our thoughts, Plutia dashed towards the beast and her whip blade connected to shape into an ordinary blade shape.

*Crash!* *KKRSH!*

Reaching the Ancient Dragon, Plutia slammed her blade against it, sending it tumbling to the ground. But Plutia continued her pursuit and was back in front of the monster again. Electricity gathered into her blade and Plutia quickly slashed at the Ancient Dragon, sending shockwaves through the dragon's body.

"GRRAAAHHH!"

*Shhhk!* *Thud!*

As the dragon continued shaking, I dashed towards it. Nearing it, I jumped into the air and threw myself towards the dragon. With the help of momentum, I slashed down hard at the dragon, cutting a wing clean off, creating a loud impact as the body part fell to the ground, and allowing it's blood to leak from it.

"RRROAAHH!" The dragon began to stomp around violently.

I landed back onto the ground just in time to see Neptune rushing towards it.

*Boom!* *Slash!* *Shk!* *Crash!*

The dragon, noticing Neptune's approach, shot a ball of fire towards her. Neptune dodged to the left and increased her speed. "Hah!" Upon reaching the dragon—who was still recovering from the projectile that it had shot out—Neptune performed a diagonal downwards slash on the dragon, removing one of it's arms and causing more blood loss. Followed by that, she flew at a fast pace towards the dragon and stabbed it in it's stomach. Finishing that, she pulled back her fist and punched the dragon, sending it crashing into a large tree.

*Boom!*

The Ancient Dragon dug itself out of the debris and let out a roar, "GROOAAAHHH!"

"Yes! Let out more of your pained crys! It just makes me want to hear more!" Plutia's weapon returned to a whip blade, she walked towards the dragon and began to whip the creature.

*Crack!* *Crack!* *Crash!*

"GROOOAAAHHH!" The Ancient Dragon collapsed to the ground.

"HAHAHA! YES! MORE! MORE!"

Neptune and I only watched as Plutia pleased herself. "Neptune, should we stop her?"

She shook her head. "I think it's better if we just let Plutia satisfy herself..."

I nodded. "Yeah..."

* * *

The Ancient Dragon, now bruised, bloody and dead, laid in front of Plutia's feet. She smiled. "My, that felt good," she sighed. "Unfortunately, I've grown rather tired."

*Ching!*

Plutia reverted herself back to her normal form. "I'm soooo tired nooww..."

Neptune nodded. "Me too. I guess I'll—"

Plutia shook her head and held her arms open for Neptune. "Piiiggyback..."

"W-What!?"

"Give me a piiiggyback ride... I'm soooo tired..."

Neptune sighed. "Alright," she crouched down and motioned for Plutia to climb onto her back. "C'mon, hurry up."

Plutia dragged herself towards Neptune and climbed onto her back. "Ehehe... This Neppy's back is soooo big and soft...Zzzz..."

Neptune let out a sigh. "How'd I get dragged into this?" She asked herself.

I shrugged and answered her question. "Well, you were lazy for three whole years. So I guess this is karma."

Neptune shrugged her shoulders. "Perhaps..."

And like that, we were back on the road to get to Lastation...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This will be the last chapter this week. Although my computer did arrive today, I won't be able to write because I have an End-of-The-Year test to take tomorrow and I'll be studying for that. On the bright side, summer starts next week for me and that'll probably mean an upload schedule with more chapters, but I'm not sure about that yet. Just check my account page this Sunday to see the summer upload schedule. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	63. Chapter 63

Chapter 63

Neptune let out a groan as we entered Lastation. Honestly, Lastation didn't look too different from our dimension's Lastation.

Like this dimension's Planeptune, there were bustling streets of civilians and cars, along with smoky factory buildings—made of a black metal—and also black skyscrapers that towered over us.

But there was one thing that stood out. Past all of that, there stood a gigantic structure in the form of a pair of wings. The "wing" area was made of a type of blue crystal and the framing seemed to be made of a black steel. Meeting at the center of the wings, was a black building that arched down towards the entrance, similar to a temple's design. That was probably the Basilicom.

"Alright, time to get off, Plutie," Neptune said as she shook the sleeping Plutia on her back.

Plutia continued to snuggle with Neptune's back. "Mmmghm...not yet..."

"Look, I'm getting tired from carrying you and from staying in this form," Neptune explained. "Plutia, please get off of my back."

"Aaawwww..." Neptune crouched down to the ground and allowed Plutia to roll onto the ground.

*Ching!*

The white light engulfed Neptune and a second later, she was back to her normal self.

She stretched her body. "Ah! That's so much better. HDD was really tiring me out."

I chuckled. "Well, you really do deserve it for lazing around for three years."

Plutia rubbed her eyes and they slowly drifted open before widening in shock. "WAAIIITT! Neppy! Silvy!"

We both turned back to Plutia. "Yeah? What's up, Plutie?"

Plutia scrambled to her feet and began frantically looking around her. "Where is this weird place!?

"…"

"…"

Neptune and I stared at Plutia with a look of disappointment. "Plutia, this is Lastation." I told.

"Reeaaallly?" Plutia looked around her again. "Oh! So that's why this place looks so weird!" She smiled and returned my gaze. "Hey, Silvy! Is this where Noire is?"

I nodded.

Plutia pressed her hands together and let out a giggle. "Ehehe... That means that we can find Noire and then we can take as many naps as we like!"

Neptune pumped her fist into the air. "That's the spirit Plutia! Now, let's go find Noire! For naps"

"Fooorrr naps!"

The two girls dashed off while I continued to walk through the streets. I shrugged my shoulders. "Why rush it? Patience wins the game after all."

* * *

"Do you think we got the right room?" Neptune asked as we approached the last door.

I shrugged. "The Basilicom staff didn't seem to be lying, so I assume this is the right room."

Plutia scratched her head. "Um...sooo...is this a hotel?"

I shrugged. "I'm pretty sure it's the Basilicom."

Like every Basilicom, upon entering, we were greeted by a cathedral-like room. Also like Lastation's Basilicom, there was an elevator. This one however, had three floors. The second floor was for living quarters while the third floor was for general work.

We were on the second floor. On this floor, the walls were painted a shaded gray color and there were rows of black doors with gold leaf lettering on each door, marking the resident's room number. The flooring was a lilac-tiled design, the ceiling had recessed lights and there were multiple corridors lined with rooms.

We had gone through every single room, looking for Noire's, but couldn't find it. After about an hour of searching and asking the Basilicom staff for directions, we had ended up at the door at the very end of the floor.

I raised my knuckle and got ready to knock. "You two—"

*Click!*

"Ready...?" Before I could ask if the girls were ready to check the last room, the two of them clicked the door open and waddled in.

I sighed. "Sometimes I question the people I'm around..." I muttered as I followed after them.

Upon entering, we were greeted by a spacious room with dark colors. There were fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling, the floor tiles were a cobalt blue color and the iris walls were lined by glass panes.

On the right side, there was a hallway that led to more rooms, on the left, there was a corner for a kitchen. The kitchen had indigo cabinets, a silver, steel sink, with cutting boards and pans hanging over the sink and the countertops were painted black. The walls were checkered black and blue, the refrigerator was a black color, and black-tiled floors covered the small area.

Right below the kitchen, there was a black sofa facing a TV—that stood atop a lilac television stand—with a prussian blue coffee table in between. It seemed like a pretty simple design.

"Heeyy... Where's Noire?" Plutia looked underneath the sofa. "Noire~! Where are you?"

"Silly Plutie," Neptune said as she waddled towards the hallway. "She's clearly in her room, sulking about being lonely."

"Oooh!" Plutia's face switched to shock. "Wow, Neppy! You're so smart!"

I walked towards the hallway with Neptune and went to the very last door. "Well, if she's not under a sofa, then she has to be in one of these rooms," I explained while the girls caught up with me.

"Wooow... I wish I could be as smart as you two," Plutia wished.

I patted her head. "At least you're cute."

"Hehehe..."

Neptune grinned. "What do you think she's doing in there?"

I shrugged. "Maybe working?'

Plutia's hand shot up into the air. "Oh! Oh! I know! She's probably talking to herself!"

"Tisk, tisk!" Neptune wagged her. "Nope! She's probably curled up in a fetal position, wishing she wasn't lonely!"

I gave her a concerned look. "Oh come on. There's no way she'd be THAT desperate," I claimed as I swung the door open.

The room we entered also had recessed lights hanging from the midnight blue ceiling, the walls—which were the same color—had many screen boards pinned to the walls and the tiled floors were a marine blue color.

The interior consisted of a black, double-cornered sofa that surrounded a small white coffee table—which had a crystal ball sitting atop it—that was facing a flat-screen TV, sitting on an oxford blue TV stand. In a corner of the room, there was an L-shaped indigo desk with papers neatly stacked on it and multiple screens looming over it, while a black office chair was parked inside the desk. Also, in another room corner, there was a sky blue bed with a white pillow and a black bed platform. Right behind the bed's black headboard, was a black shelf with more screens and a variety of ornaments.

I looked down at the floor. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me."

Neptune pumped her fist into the air."Looks like 'ol Neps was right!"

"Awww... Noire looks sooo sad," Plutia pressed her fingers against each other and let out a giggle. "It's kind of cute..."

Lying on the floor—in a fetal position—was Noire, who was muttering to herself. "I bet Plutia doesn't even remember me anymore. She's always off playing with Neptune and Silver...*sniff*….while I'm just working my life away... When was the last time I talked to them?"

Neptune was the first to break Noire's trance. "Hey, Noire! How's it hanging?" Neptune loudly greeted.

"Hellllooooo Noire!" Plutia waved at her.

I greeted her with a wave. "Yo."

Scrambling to her feet, Noire snapped back to attention and spun back to see us, waiting at her door. Her cheeks flushed. "Plutia... Silver..."

I simply facepalmed. "You really all are hopeless."

"Hey, wait! Why didn't I get a greeting!?" Neptune questioned.

"Because she likes us better," I answered.

"Boo... Well, at least I'm not like poor Noire. She truly does deserve the title of Lonely Heart," Neptune responded.

Ignoring Neptune's jab, Noire asked, "W-What are you guys doing here?"

I decided not to answer. Ruining Noire's happiness right now would be a dick move. I'd rather let Plutia and Neptune do that. "Weeell...we came to find you Noire!" Plutia answered.

Tears were welling up in the corners of Noire's eyelids. "R-Really...*sniff*…?"

"Uuuh-huh!" Plutia giggled. "But, um, Noire. Can we ask you for something?"

Noire wiped away her tears and smiled brightly at Plutia. "Sure! Anything!"

You're going to regret saying that.

"Well, um, can Neppy and I sleep with you?" Plutia asked.

"Yeah let us nap here! Pretty please with sprinkles on top?" Neptune pleaded.

Noire's smile was replaced with a blank, confused expression. "Huh? W-what do you mean?"

"Mini-Histy was getting all mad at us for napping and ended up kicking us out! She was all like 'You need to do your work!'" Neptune explained. "And then she forced us to come here! It's crazy, isn't it?" Neptune asked.

"I see..." Noire continued to observe Neptune and Plutia. Then Noire flashed them her brightest smile. "Well, if that's the case, of course you two can nap here! Go ahead!"

Noire, did you go insane from your loneliness?

Neptune and Plutia's faces lit up. "Reeaalllly!? Wow! Thanks Noire!" Plutia beamed her brightest smile at Noire.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO THINKING?!" Noire shouted suddenly.

"AHHH!" The two girls fell on their bottoms as I tried to contain my laughter.

"OF COURSE SHE SENT YOU TWO DOWN HERE! ALL YOU TWO EVER DO IS LAZE AROUND! TODAY IS THE DAY YOU TWO WILL LEARN HOW TO BE PROPER CPUS!"

"Oh no... She's lecturing us," Neptune muttered. "Please, Noire, don't turn into another Histy!"

"I'm going to make sure you two learn how to properly act as CPUs!" Noire said. "And you're going to follow every instruction I give you, got it?"

"Yeah, right," Neptune flopped onto the sofa. "You just want a chance to tell people what to do, right?"

"That's not it at all!" Noire protested. "I-I'm just teaching you two how to properly do your job! That's all! I-It's not like I need friends or anything!" Her ears turned pink.

I shook my head. "Noire, you have to learn how to hide your Tsundereness better..."

She averted her gaze as her cheeks flushed into a brighter shade of red. "S-Shut up..."

"Nice one Silver! Maybe if you keep praising her, she'll forget about teaching us!" Neptune said aloud.

I turned back to her. "I think you just ruined your chances by saying that."

Noire's expression turned to pure anger. "Neptune! Now you're REALLY going to learn!"

"Uuuh-oh. We made Noire mad," Plutia stated. "What're we going to do now?"

"I'll tell you what you two are going to do! You two are going to march out that door with me and you'll learn how to be REAL CPUs!"

"Awww... Noire, this is why you don't have any f—"

Noire cast Neptune a cold glare. "Don't you dare say it! Now let's go!"

The two Planeptune CPUs groaned. "Fine..."

* * *

"And that's how you do that. Got it?" Noire, who had been leading us, turned back around.

The two girls nodded silently. "Yeah..."

"You two aren't even paying attention, are you!?"

They continued nodding. "Yeah..."

"Damnit!" Noire stomped up to the two girls and smacked them atop their heads.

"Owww..." The two of them moaned in unison as they rubbed their heads.

"Hey, why'd you do that Noire?" Neptune asked.

I patted both their heads. "Because neither of you are paying attention to what she's saying."

"But it's sooo boring!" Plutia whined.

"Well, if you two won't listen to me, then you won't get to nap or eat!" Noire threatened.

"What!?" Neptune eyes widened. "Noire, I think that's a bit too harsh."

"It doesn't matter. If you don't start learning, then you'll be here forever."

Plutia and Neptune slumped over. "Uugghhh..."

I decided to speak up. "Hey, Noire."

Her head turned to me and she gave me a puzzled look. "Yeah?"

"Why don't you just teach them how to be like CPUs in a dumbed down way," I suggested.

She cocked her head. "I don't think I follow."

"I mean explain it in a way that they'd understand. These two can't understand everything you tell them. Just give them a basic summary," I explained.

"Yeah Noire! You're using too big of words! I don't even know what half of them mean!" Neptune protested.

"Yeeaahhh..." Plutia chimed in.

Noire let out a heavy sigh. "Fine. Basically, all you have to do is follow the basic rules. You make software that your people will like, you do your paperwork and help keep your nation safe. That's about it."

I stared at Noire. "Wait, that's it?"

She shrugged. "Yeah. That's about the gist of it."

"That's too hard..." Plutia whined. "Is there something easier?"

Noire shrugged. "I mean you could do quests. But—"

Neptune cut her off. "Really!? Man, all we have to do is camp for those really easy ones and we'll be living the high life!"

"Yeaahhh!" Plutia agreed. "Let's hurry home and tell Histy! She'll be sooo proud of us!"

"Wait!" Before the two of them could dash off, Noire called after them. "Don't you two want to stay over. W-We haven't seen each other in so long...and we should catch up. We could stay late into the nights, watch movies and talk. I have a really big bed you know!"

Neptune grinned widely. "Nope! Sorry Noire!"

"Bye-bye Noire!" Plutia waved Noire a goodbye before the two of them dashed off.

"Uughh..." Tears began to form at the corner of Noire's eyelids again. "Fine! Leave! It's not like I'll be lonely or anything!"

I walked up to her and pulled her into a tight hug as she quietly sniffled. "It's alright. I'll stay with you."

She looked up at me. "R-Really?" Noire sniffled.

I nodded. "Of course. You're a good friend of mine. I can't bear seeing you hurt. You deserve friends. Plus I haven't seen you in so long"

She wiped away her tears with her sleeve. "T-Thank you...Silver."

I nodded. "It's no problem. Now how about we head back to your place and have some fun?"

Noire nodded. "Y-Yeah."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Sorry for the late upload. It was my birthday and my family made me stay late at a party. However, school is officially over for me. This week will have the normal upload schedule. But, next week, the upload schedule will change, in a good way. Starting next week, chapters will come out every weekday. Basically Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. However, upload time will probably still stay the same. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	64. Chapter 64

Chapter 64

"…"

"…"

After Plutia and Neptune had begun their walk back to Planeptune, Noire and I had decided to go back to her place. While we walked in awkward silence through the busy streets, Noire clung to my arm, making my arm feel a soft sensation. Since I didn't want to mention anything about it, I decided not to talk and since Noire was easily embarrassed, she also wasn't talking. So we just walked in an awkward silence.

We were almost back to the Basillicom, but I was suddenly stopped when I felt a tug on my arm. I turned back to see Noire—frozen in place—staring off at something. I followed her gaze back to a fabric store.

"Wait..."

My eyes widened as the realization hit me. Back in our dimension, the Noire there had a strange love for cosplaying and she liked buying her own material to make outfits. Since this was an alternate dimension, and there was also a Noire who acted like a Tsundere, that probably also meant that she liked cosplaying.

Smiling, I turned to her and nudged her shoulder. "Hey, Noire."

Noire, whose eyes had been lost staring at the store, snapped back. Her cheeks flushed. "H-Huh?! I definitely was looking at that store! I was just...admiring the sky. Yeah! Shut up!"

I stared at her blankly, taken back by all that she had just said. "Um... I didn't even say anything yet..."

Her ears turned pink at this. "I-I knew that! I-I was just joking! That's all!"

I let out a laugh and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Listen, it's fine. If you want to go look through that shop, then we can. I'll buy if you want."

She lowered her head. "R-Really?" She asked in a hushed tone. "I mean...you don't have to..."

"Sure, I don't have to," I agreed. "But I want you to enjoy yourself."

She cast me a quick glance. "So...you're absolutely fine with it?"

I nodded.

She looked back at me and smiled brightly. "T-Thank...you...Silver..."

She wrapped her arms around me and we embraced each other tightly.

* * *

I didn't really feel like going in the shop, so I just decided to wait outside while Noire shopped her heart away. I had given her my wallet and had said that she could buy as much as she liked. "I'm such a dumbass..."

After a few minutes of sitting out here waiting, I had realized that it was a completely stupid decision on my part. From what I knew, if you let people go crazy with your money, they'll empty out your wallet. Then again, that had only been Neptune.

I sat on a bench and looked up at the fiery orange, evening sky. It's rays cast an orange tint to everything. "Heh, this really is déjà vu."

I remembered when I had first arrived in Gamindustri and had met Noire shortly after. One of the first things we had done was go to a store where I also had to wait for Noire outside. Last time I was waiting, I had remembered thinking about my past. Now, I only wanted to be alone and enjoy the quietness. "I really am a strange guy..."

* * *

My eyes followed the people passing by the street. "…" I watched the children, clinging to their parent's arm.

A little girl tugged on her mother's hand and pointed at an ice cream store. "Mommy, can we get some ice cream? Pretty please?"

The mother let out a laugh and patted her daughter's head. "Only a little. We don't want you to get nasty cavities, now do we?"

The girl shook her head back and forth rapidly. "No, no, no! Cavities are evil!"

"That's a good girl," The mother smiled and kissed her daughter's forehead. "Now how about we go get some ice cream, sweetie?"

The girl threw her arms around her mother. "Yay! I love you mommy!"

"Anything for you," the mother said as they walked together towards the ice cream shop.

I smiled and watched them walk off. "…"

"Um...Silver?" Somebody called from behind, tapping my shoulder.

"Hm?" I turned around to acknowledge the person that wanted my attention. It was Noire. "Oh, hey Noire. What's up?"

She shrugged. "I finished shopping, so can we head home now?"

I chuckled and held out my hand. "Let me see my wallet first."

Happily, she placed the wallet in my hand and began her walk back to the Basilicom. As I walked with her, I looked inside the wallet. I sighed with relief. "Well, at least she knows how to be considerate of other's money."

I put the wallet back into my pocket and dashed after her. "Hey! Wait up Noire!"

* * *

Upon returning to Noire's room, I let out a stretch. "It's good to be back..."

Noire nodded. "Yeah..." She set her shopping bags beside her desk and turned to me. "Listen, Silver..."

"Hm?" I switched my attention to Noire. "What's up?"

Dropping her head, she blushed and shifted in her position. "T-Thanks..." She muttered.

I cocked my head. "For what?"

Her blush grew redder. "F-For...staying with me...a-and...letting me shop..."

"It's no problem," I smiled. "I care about all of you. I can't stand here and let you be lonely."

"D-Don't say things like that! I-It's embarassing..."

I shrugged. "I like being honest. Do you not like my honesty?"

She glanced back up at me. "N-No! It's not that! I-I don't...hate it..."

I chuckled. "Well, I won't question it," I reassured her. "So, what do you want to do?"

"Huh?" My sudden change in topic seemed to catch her off guard. "Oh, um..." She began to twiddle with her fingers.

I smiled. "Take your time. We got the whole evening and night to do whatever we want."

Noire shrugged. "I don't know..." Noire's blush returned. "I-I just thought...that...y'know...we could...watch a movie...together..."

Unconsciously, I formed a smile. "Okay, I'm fine with that," I walked back to Noire, who was sliding through movies on a screen, and began to look at the movies with her. "What do you have in mind to watch?"

"…" She stopped sliding and her ears turned pink. "Umm..."

I looked back at her. "Noire?" I lightly tapped her cheek. "You okay?"

She nodded shyly. "Y-Yeah... It's just that..."

I signaled my hands to motion her to finish her sentence. "That..."

She averted her attention from the screen and her blush deepened. "I-It's just that...I-I want...to...watch a...r-r-r-ro...romance...movie..."

"Oh," I stared at her blankly.

She glanced up at me. "W-What's wrong? D-Do you not want to? Because if you don't, we can watch something el—"

I waved my hand. "No, no. It's not that," I scratched my head. "I'm fine with it, but I just never expected that you would want to watch that."

"W-What're you trying to say?!"

I shrugged. "Well... You just didn't seem like the type of person who would like romance."

"S-Shut up!" Noire's head dropped down to the ground. "P-People can like their own things!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," I agreed. "So, do you have any ideas on what movie we should watch?"

Still not looking at me, Noire turned back to the screen. "M-Maybe..."

"Can I help you find it?"

She shook her head. "N-No... You can just find out when we watch the movie. I-I want it to be a surprise..."

Deciding to respect her decision, I nodded and went back to sit on the sofa. "Just tell me when you've chosen the movie."

Without responding, she nodded silently and continued swiping through movie options.

After a few minutes had passed and, right when I was about to doze off, I felt a nudge on my shoulder. "Hm?" I looked up. It was Noire. "Oh, hey. What's up?"

She sighed and pointed towards her TV. The black screen had a white 'pause' button at the center. "The movie's ready. I was just making sure you were ready to watch."

I smiled and rubbed my eyes. "Thanks. Do you want anything to eat or drink before we start watching?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yeah," she pointed out her door. "There's some snacks in the kitchen cabinets and some soft drinks in the fridge. Would you mind getting some?"

I nodded my head. "I'll go get some."

I walked out the door, jogged to the kitchen and began opening cabinets. "Wow. I thought she said that she had SOME snacks. But...this is crazy..." Inside the few cabinets in the kitchen, there were bags of chips, gummies and sweets that filled ever single cabinet to the brim. "Considering they're all family size, maybe I'll just take a few bags..."

Without looking at which bags I grabbed, I nabbed a few and peeked the refrigerator door open. "Well, at least this isn't as bad as the cabinets."

The refrigerator was neatly organized. There were three rows of opaque plastic shelves. The top shelf held twelve-packs of sodas, jugs of orange juice and bottles of water, the middle shelf was filled with plates of leftover dishes and the bottom shelf had many raw food ingredients.

I took a few soft drinks and bottles of water. Now, in my hands, were bottles along with cans of drinks and the bags of snacks. I sighed. "I hope this will be enough..."

I pushed open Noire's door and entered the room. I showed her the drinks and snack bags. "Is this enough?"

She smiled and nodded. "That should be enough," she walked towards me and took the bags away from me.

We both set them down right in between our sofa spots and took our seats, the snacks and drinks in between us. I turned back to her. "How about we watch the movie now?" I suggested.

"Yeah," Noire nodded and the movie started.

* * *

"I guess that wasn't such a bad movie," I commented as I let out a yawn.

We had watched _Fifty Shades of Grey_. Honestly, the movie wasn't bad. Noire had cried three fourths into the movie though.

"Zzzz...zzzz...zzzz..." Speaking of Noire, she was now asleep with her head resting on my shoulder.

"Man, girls really are work," I muttered as I carefully scooped Noire into my arms. "How about we get you to an actual bed, huh?"

"Mmghm..."

I let out a chuckle and walked to her bed. Upon reaching the bed, I gently placed her head on the pillow and pulled the blankets over her. I patted her head. "Hope you sleep well..."

"Hm?" As I turned around and was about to get ready to leave, I felt a tug on my sleeve. I looked back and found Noire clinging to it. "What's wrong Noire?"

Through her sleepy eyes, she looked at me with wonder. "Can you...stay with me... tonight?"

I felt the blood rush to my head. "Um... I-I don't have anywhere to sleep. So—"

*Fwmhp!*

Before I could say anything else, Noire pulled me onto the bed and cuddled with me as if I were a stuffed animal. "Then...just sleep with meee..." Noire suggested in a drowsy tone.

"…" I decided not to speak. My face was flushed and it didn't help that there was a soft sensation being pressed against my back.

"Siiillllver... What's wrong?"

I gulped. "U-Um...are you sure I have to sleep with you in the same bed?"

She stroked my head and continued speaking in her drowsy voice. "Of course... Now just gooo to sleeeep and let me snuggle with you..."

"Um...okay..."

Deciding not to question her, I closed my eyes and let sleep take me. Hopefully it won't be this crazy tomorrow...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Overwatch gets here tomorrow for me and I'll probably be spending a bit of time playing that, however I won't neglect my writing. That being said, on days where I don't upload a chapter for some reason, check my account page for details as to why. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	65. Chapter 65

Chapter 65

"…" I carefully peeked my eyes open. Nothing yet... As quietly as I could, I glanced behind me. Nothing. That probably meant that Noire was awake. "That's a relief."

I sat up from the bed and stretched. "What a strange night that was..." Last night, everything was fine until I was forced to sleep in Noire's bed WITH Noire. The only other girl I had literally slept with was Nepgear. I sat upright on the bed and rested my chin on my hands. "Man, I hope Nepgear never finds out about this..."

I looked back at the sofa that Noire and I had sat on yesterday night. "Hm?" Last night, we hadn't cleaned it and had just left chip bags and cans lying around. Now, it was completely spotless. As if it had all never happened. "I wonder who cleaned it..."

I got up from the bed and tidied it up. I folded the blankets, flattened the bed sheets and fluffed the pillow. It's strange. It had felt like there were two pillows last night. Maybe that one pillow was just that big of a pillow?

While I was pondering this, I heard the door creak open. It was Noire and she already wore a blush. "H-Hey Silver... D-Did you sleep okay?"

"I guess," I shrugged. "I mean, I don't feel sore, but I don't exactly feel the most awake," I pointed towards her. "How about you?"

She averted her gaze. "I-I slept...well..."

Deciding not to make it awkward and noticing her hair was a bit wet, I asked, "Did you take a shower?"

Her attention snapped back to me. "Um...yeah. I woke up early so that I could take a shower. Why?"

I shrugged. "Just curious. That's all."

"Do you want to use the shower?" Noire asked. "It's down the—"

I held up my hand. "No, I'm fine. I'll take one later."

"Okay," she dropped her head and responded in a hushed tone.

I patted her head. "How about I go make us some breakfast?" I suggested.

She looked up at me. "A-Are you sure? I-I mean...you're the house guest...so I—"

I cut her off. "It's fine. I'm the one caring for you right now. So just let me do it."

She smiled brightly as I turned away and headed towards the kitchen fridge, remembering that there had been some ingredients in the fridge. "I wonder what I'll be able to make..."

* * *

Turns out, I could make just about anything from what was in the refrigerator. I had made waffles, biscuits, hashed potatoes and BLTs with added eggs in them. Also, I had found a jug of orange juice somewhere and had poured two glasses of that for us.

I didn't notice yesterday, but there was also an oval-shaped black dining table in front of the kitchen with six plastic gray chairs tucked into the table. So I had set the food on the table.

I took a seat right by Noire. "So, what do you think?"

She giggled and turned to me. "I think you should stay with me so that you can always make me this food!"

I let out a laugh. "You shouldn't say that yet. You haven't even tried the food."

"It's still probably going to be better than anything the cooks here could make," she commented as she took a bite out of her sandwich. "…!"

"Huh?" I glanced at her. She had stopped midchew. "Are you okay, Noire?"

Noire's eyes lit up and she lunged herself at me, catching me by surprise. "Ah! Hey, Noire! Why are you clinging to me!?"

She rubbed her cheek against my chest. "Please, please, please stay here and be my cook! Your food taste so good! I'll give you anything you want!"

I was caught off guard by her request. "I-I'm sorry but I can't!"

She put her hands together and began begging. "Please! It's so lonely and you're the only person that's actually cared enough to stay with me!"

I patted her head. "I'm sorry Noire. But I can't stay. I have to find a way to get home with Neptune. But I'll visit you occasionally until then. How's that?" I offered.

Even though she didn't seem totally satisfied by this answer, she still nodded and smiled. "Okay. I'm fine with that."

*Ding!*

As we returned to eating, we heard the front door open and turned our attention to it. Standing there, was Neptune and Plutia. "Hey, we did find Noire's place! Go us!"

"Heey, heey, Neppy," Plutia tugged on Neptune's sleeve "What's that delicious smell?"

"Huh?" Neptune sniffed the air. "Wow! What is that smell! It smells like food made by a master chef!"

They turned to the source of the smell, our food. Their eyes widened when they saw the two of us. "Heeey! Look! It's Silver and Lonely Heart!" Neptune stated.

"Wooow! Noire, did you use a new kind of perfume?" Plutia asked. "Cause it makes you smell like delicious food!"

Noire crossed her arms and turned away from them. Then she began to pout. "…"

"Uh-oh," Plutia waddled over to Noire. "Noire, are you maad at us?"

"Noooo, not at all," Noire responded in a sarcastic tone.

Plutia cocked her head and stared at Noire's face. "But you seeem soooo mad..." Plutia looked over at Neptune, who was eating off my plate. "Heeey, Neppy! Do you know what's wrong with Noire?" She asked.

Neptune swallowed the food she had just consumed and suggested, "Maybe it's that time of the month for her," Neptune guessed. "Or maybe she's just in one of her bad moods. You know how lonely people can get easily ticked off!"

At Neptune's remark, Noire cast Neptune a cold glare. "There is no way in hell that's true!" She snapped back.

I was just quietly eating my food, watching the scene unravel in front of me. Plutia jumped into the air at Noire's sudden burst. "Ahhh! So she iiiiss mad!"

"Of course I am! You two left me and you didn't even learn anything!"

Neptune shook her head. "No, I'm pretty sure you're just mad that you're only friends left you. You probably didn't even care that much about the work part."

"Shut up!"

"Awww... They're fighting again..." Plutia frowned. "If you two keep fighting, I might get reeaaallllyyyy angry..."

Both of them snapped their attention to Plutia. "Ah! W-We're not fighting at all. W-We're good pals..."

"Yeah, Plutie. We swear..." Neptune stated.

Plutia's smile returned. "Oh! That's a relief!"

Noire and Neptune let out a sigh. "Whew, that was close..."

* * *

"Mmm... This taste soooo good!" Plutia said as she ate her food.

"Man, this would taste so much better if I had some pudding!" Neptune commented.

Neptune and Plutia had decided to join us for breakfast, so I had to cook more food for them.

As I finished my sandwich and took a swig from my orange juice, I asked them a question. "So, why are you two back so soon?"

"Well, you see.." Neptune let out a dry laugh at my question. "We made Mini-Histy mad again."

"Figures," I muttered under my breath.

"Soooo...we came back to work suuuppper hard until Histy isn't mad anymore!" Plutia finished.

Noire sighed. "You two really are good at making people mad, aren't you?"

"Hey! At least we have friends, Noire!" Neptune snapped back.

"I do too have friends!" Noire retorted.

"Really? Then name one!"

Noire blushed and looked away. "W-Well...I have Plutia...and...Silver..."

"Silver doesn't count cause he's a guy!" Neptune claimed.

Wait, so am I irrelevant because I'm the opposite sex?

"And as for Plutie, you abandoned her, so she doesn't count either!" Neptune explained. "Meaning you're still Lonely Heart!"

"No, it's just that you and you're dumbass logic makes no sense!" Noire responded.

I sighed. "Enough you two. Let's just finish eating and then go work. Plus you don't want your food to get cold. Then it won't taste too good."

"Finne..." The girls—who had been standing—all sat back down in their seats and we ate.

* * *

"Hey, Noire, isn't this..."

Noire nodded. "Yup. This is the Guild."

"Ooohhh yeah... This is where you get those quest thingies, right?" Plutia asked.

Noire nodded. "Yeah. Since I figured out that explaining all of this to you right now would just confuse you, I'll just explain it as we do it," Noire explained. "P-Plus...it's something that...we can all do...together..."

"Really!? You want to play with us, Noire?" Plutia asked as she got into Noire's face.

Noire blushed and turned away. "T-That's not it at all! I-It's just that...if I leave you alone...then you'll end up lazing around! Yeah! That's it!"

Neptune formed a grin. "Oh hoho! Seems like Miss Lonely Heart's true intentions have been revealed! Looks like she just wants some friends and some people to play with!"

"T-That's not true at all!" Noire protested.

"Really?" Neptune questioned. "Cause I bet you're welling up with joy right now and you're just trying to hide it, aren't you Noire?"

Plutia let out a giggle. "Ehehe... If Noire's happy, then that makes me happy too!"

"I'm not happy at all! You're making me waste my precious time, so that I can teach you two! Of course I'm not happy!"

"What would you even do with your 'precious time'? Sulk about how lonely you are?" Neptune thought aloud.

Noire blushed at this. "N-No! I-I...try on clothes...in the mirror..."

Neptune chuckled. "Yeah, and I bet you probably talk to yourself in the mirror too, wishing you had friends..."

"S-Shut up! Listen, we're picking a quest now!"

While the girls had been bickering, I was just sitting by the front door watching them. To me, it felt better not to intervene in that type of stuff. But if I had, I probably would've been on Noire's side. To an extent.

"Ah! Here's a good one!" Noire tapped an 'accept' button on a holographic blue screen and the screen shrunk to the size of a tablet.

I cocked my head as Noire approached me and pointed at the object she was now holding. "Hey, Noire. What's that thing your holding?"

"Hm?" Noire flashed the object in my face. "This is kind of like a reminder. It shows you what the quest you're doing is, what requirements you have to meet and where you can find the quest monsters or items."

"Yeah, but what would you call it?"

Noire shrugged. "I don't know. I guess a quest manager. It records all the quest you're currently doing and displays it's information."

I nodded. "I guess you could call it a quest manager," I held out my hand ."Mind if I see our quest?"

"Sure," Noire handed me the quest manager.

"Oh. This isn't that bad," I stated, handing the task manager back to Noire. The quest didn't seem that bad. It was simply to kill all the enemies in a certain part of a cave.

Noire nodded. "Alright, then let's go."

And like that, we were now on our way to a cave.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here is another chapter. I think that I found a way to always be able to write chapters, so that should help. But I got Overwatch today and I'm excited to play that, also I'm hyped for when Megadimension Neptunia for the PC comes out soon. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter.**


	66. Chapter 66

Chapter 66

We were now in a cave that lead down into the depths of Lastation. The walls were jagged, there were colorful crystals hanging from the ceiling, ore chunks were scattered here and there and the path we walked on seemed to be smoothed out. But what I found strange was why we were in a cave on the borders of Lastation and so close to Lowee. However, even though this bothered me, I didn't have time to worry about this.

"Ha!"

*Crack!* *Crash!*

I slammed my fist into an Earth Golem's face, cracking it's head and sending it crashing to the ground. "…!"

As I retracted my arm, the golem grabbed me by my feet and yanked me down.

"Yah!"

*Crk!*

Before I fell to the ground, I caught myself with my hands and kicked at it's face, loosening it's grip. I pulled away and threw a fist at it's head again, this time with more force.

*BOOM!*

Since his face was already cracked, the punch shattered it's rocky face and it's entire rock body crumbled to the ground. A second later, I felt the sharp, searing pain in my fist, the aftershock from smashing the golem's rock-hard face. "…!"

I spun around to see another Rock Golem charging at me. I performed a back kick, sending it stumbling a few meters back. While it was stunned, I dashed towards it, jumped into the air and kicked it in the side of it's face, causing it to stumble back further. Midair, I activated my body to act at fifty percent. Now much faster, I dashed at the golem and drove my fist into it's abdomen region.

*CRASH!*

The hit sent a shockwave through it's whole body, causing the entire body to crumble to the ground. I reverted my body to act at twenty percent, allowing the exhaustion and pain to slip into my body. My muscles began throbbing and my lungs felt as if they were on fire. "Damnit..."

I activated my Devils' energy to heal my body. The throbbing began to slowly fade away and the heat in my lungs slowly to cool. Even though I could heal my body with my Devils' energy, it did have it's limits. If I didn't have any Devil energy left to heal or spare, my body would begin eating itself away until nothing was left. Luckily, I was pretty sparingly with the Devils' energy.

Once I felt my body recovered, I turned my attention elsewhere.

"Hi-yah!"

"Yaaaah!"

*Bang!* *Boom!*

Surrounding Neptune and Plutia were several golems. One charged towards them and Plutia smashed her doll onto it's head, causing it to shatter the golem's body.

Three charged at Neptune, causing her to roll out of their way. Once they were all in one area, she materialized a giant blade made from purple byte cubes and commanded it to slam into the golems. The giant blade crashed into them, shattering their bodies and creating an explosion of light that vaporized them.

I glanced over at Noire. Like Neptune and Plutia, several golems surrounded her. As they all charged at her, she enveloped her blade in a yellow energy and performed a three sixty slash wave, chopping all their heads off at once. Once their heads touched the ground, their bodies crumbled to the ground.

We all met back up and Noire looked at the quest manager. "Okay, we finished. Good job everyone," Noire complimented.

Plutia blushed and let out a giggle. "Ehehehe... Noire praised me..."

I turned to Noire. "By the way, Noire..."

"Yeah? Is something the matter?" She asked.

I nodded. "Actually, yeah. Why are we in THIS cave?"

She stared at me, puzzled. "I don't think I know what you're trying to ask."

"Well, why are we in a cave at Lastation's borders and so particularly close to Lowee?"

Noire nodded, seeming to reach an understanding. "I get what you mean now. That's actual part of the reason we're here," she said as we reached a group of guards.

The guards had traditional police weaponry and their uniforms resembled SWAT uniforms. They even wore body armor. The only difference was that they wore all black. Upon noticing Noire, they all snapped to attention and saluted. "Good day, Lady Black Heart."

"Good day," Noire approached one of the men. "Any reports so far?"

"No, Lady Black Heart. It's been clear all day so far," the guard responded.

"Wow Noire. I can't believe you got boys to call you Lady Black Heart," Neptune commented. "That's so like you, Noire."

Ignoring Neptune's comments, I asked, "Why are there guards here?"

She turned back to me. "You said it yourself, didn't you? We're close to Lowee's borders."

The realization hit me. "Oh, so you're saying that..."

Noire nodded. "Right, since Lowee has been reported working with the Seven Sages and more keep migrating here, there are guards stationed here to make sure that nothing bad comes in."

Neptune nodded. "I getcha. But I have a question."

Noire sighed and glanced over at Neptune. "Is it about lunch?"

"No! It's a legit question, dog!" Neptune responded.

"Then what is it?" Noire questioned.

"Well, I was just wondering why there weren't any guards set up close to Planeptune."

Noire let out a chuckle. "The answer to that is obvious. Planeptune simply isn't a threat to Lastation, unless you guys are planning to siege Lastation, then there's no need for guards to be set up there."

"Hey! That hurts, Noire," Neptune stated. "And how do you know that we aren't planning to invade? For all you know, Sadie could come in and invade. She herself could handle an entire army and strike fear into the cutest of bunnies!"

"Heeey! I wouldn't do that!" Plutia whined.

*Ching!*

Suddenly, she transformed into her CPU form. "Unless, Noire, you would like that. I could provide you with ALL the service that you desire..." Plutia grinned devilishly.

"Ahhhh! Change back, change back!" Neptune shouted.

"Please change back Plutia, pretty please?" Noire begged.

*Ching!*

Plutia quickly changed back. "Booo... But you were making fun of me!

I patted Plutia's head. "It's okay. They didn't mean it."

"Buut it hurt my feeelings!" Plutia whined.

I nodded. "It's fine. They're sorry now," I turned to Neptune and Noire. "Right?"

Neptune dropped to her knees. "I'm sorry! Please don't transform again! I don't wanna lose my cute face!"

I turned to Noire. "Noire?" I showed her Plutia's sad face. "Can you really live with yourself knowing that you hurt this poor, little girl's feelings?"

Noire averted her gaze and squirmed around in her position. "I-I'm s-so...sorr...sorry..." Noire mumbled.

"What's that? I don't think I heard you," I turned to Plutia. "Did you hear that Plutia?"

Plutia shook her head. "Nooope! I couldn't hear aanything she said..."

I returned my attention to Noire. "Now, are you going to apologize properly this time?" I asked.

"Uugghh..." Noire groaned. "Fine! I-I'm...s-sorry...Plutia..."

"Noooiiiree...I still can't hear you," Plutia stated.

Tears welled up at the corner of Noire's eyelids. "Fine! I-I'm sorry, Plutia! There, happy!?"

I smiled. "Yeah, very," I looked back at Plutia. "Are you happy Plutia?"

Plutia nodded. "Uuh-huuh! I'm very happy!" Plutia smiled. "Noire apologized and she almost cried!" Plutia let out a giggle.

One of the guards behind Noire muttered quietly, "Incredible. To see Lady Black Heart on the brink of tears. It's simply unheard of."

Noire face twisted into rage and she spun back to the guard. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY YOU BITCH!?"

The guard grew a cold sweat and shrunk back. "Ahh! I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you! I swear!"

"Hehehe... He looks sooo helpless and scared," Plutia commented.

Noire continued glaring coldly at the guard. "I'll let you off the hook THIS time. But if you ever say anything like that again..." Using her finger, Noire pretended to slit her throat "Got it?"

The guard only nodded quickly. "Y-Yes, Lady Black Heart!"

"…" Neptune, Plutia and I all stared at Noire.

She spun back to us. "What?"

"I think you might be a little too strict, Noire," I stated.

"You're yelling toooo much at that man," Plutia commented.

Neptune chuckled. "See Noire? This is why you'll always be Lonely Heart and never have any friends."

Noire pouted. "Shut up! We're heading home now!"

"Fine..."

* * *

On our walk back to Lastation's Basilicom, Neptune had stopped us at a candy store to buy candy. Noire and Plutia had gotten to stand outside, but guess who was paying?

"Silver! Pay now!" Neptune commanded.

"Hey, slow down," I pointed to the massive pile of candy sitting right beside the store cashier. "You really think that I'm going to let you buy all of that?"

Neptune nodded. "Of course you will! I'm your girlfriend's big sister, so I'll tell her if you don't buy candy for me."

I sighed. "I'm pretty sure Nepgear wouldn't care actually. She'd probably take my side."

Neptune shook her head. "Nuh-uh! Nepgear succumbs to peer pressure easily! So, if I convinced her first, then I would win!"

I shook my head. "Neptune, listen, you don't need that much sugar in you. Besides, you'll get cavities."

Neptune frowned. "Who do you think you are? My dad?"

"No, but I'm here to make sure you're safe. And eating too much candy can harm your teeth!"

Neptune groaned. "Uugghh..."

"Sir, are you going to buy all this candy?" The cashier lady asked.

I glanced back at her. "Hold on, I might," I spun back to Neptune. "Okay, how about we make a compromise?"

"What kind of compromise?" Neptune asked.

"Well, since I know you won't take your work seriously, I'll make you a deal," I proposed.

Neptune squinted her eyes at me. "What kind of deal?"

I grinned. "If you always listen to what Noire tells you to do during your work, then I'll buy you all of this candy."

Neptune's eyes widened. "Really!? That's it?!"

I nodded. "Yup. But if you break your promise, I'll make sure you eat eggplant pudding for the rest of your life."

"No! Anything but that Devilish food again!" Neptune shook her head violently. "I still remember the taste!"

I stuck out my hand. "Then do we have a deal?"

Timidly, Neptune shook my hand. "I-I guess..."

"Great," I smiled and turned back to the cashier. "Sorry for the wait."

*Ka-Ching!*

* * *

Walking out the store, I now carried Neptune's gigantic bag of candy on my back. Plutia watched me with wonder. "Woow, Silvy! You're so strong!"

I chuckled. "Not really... I just keep improving my body so that I can protect you all."

"Ehehehe... Silvy you're sooo weird!" Plutia commented.

I shrugged. "It's called honesty."

"Buuut... how come you're never lazy when you work?" Plutia asked.

"Well, it's just that I've worked my whole life. I never exactly had a free day in my life. It's partially due to those monsters in me," I explained to her.

"Theeen, why should I work?"

I glanced over at her. "What do you mean?"

"I meeeaaan... What should I think about to keep me working? Because it's always sooo suuper boring..."

I smiled. "How about this?" I patted her head, messing up her hair a bit.

"Ehehehe... That felt nice..." Plutia blushed a bit.

"Then how about, everytime you do a good job working, I'll praise you?" I offered.

Plutia looked up at me. "Reeaallly!?"

I nodded. "Yup."

"Oookay! Then I promise to try my best on my work!" Plutia pledged.

I smiled at her as we caught up with Noire and Neptune. I walked beside Noire, who was staring down at her feet and muttering to herself.

"What's wrong Noire?"

She looked up at me. "I don't know how I'm going to make these two work properly."

I placed a hand on her shoulder. "I think you'll be just fine," I reassured her.

She cocked her head. "Why's that?"

I formed a wide grin. "You'll see..."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And here's another chapter! I'm going to be playing Overwatch for the rest of today and let me know if any of you have it. I'd like to get better at the game and have fun. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter.**


	67. Chapter 67

Chapter 67

*Brinng!* *Brinng!*

Upon returning home, we were greeted by the sound of a telephone ringing.

"I got it," Noire said as she went to pick up the phone sitting on her desk. "It's rare for me to get a call though."

"Mmghm!" Neptune quickly placed a hand over her mouth to silence her laughter. It didn't take a genius to figure out what Neptune would've said next.

"Go eat your candy or something," I quietly suggested at Neptune.

She nodded and dragged her massive bag of candy out of Noire's room. I turned to Plutia, who was staring at the door Neptune had just walked out of. I tapped her shoulder. "Hey, Plutia."

"Huuuuh?" Plutia slowly turned her head to face me. "What's up?"

"Aren't you going to go outside with Neptune and eat or play or whatever you two do?" I asked.

She put a finger to her chin. "Weeellll...um..." Plutia closed her eyes to think hard. "Well...I want you tooo praise me again..."

My expression went blank. "Huh?"

Plutia blushed a bit. "It feels sooo good when you praise me..." She let out a giggle.

I shrugged. "Sure. Why the hell not?"

I patted her head once again and further messed up her hair. "There."

She formed a bright grin. "Ehehe... Yay! Silvy patted meee!"

I smiled. "Yes, I did. Are you happy now?"

"Uuuh-huuh!" Plutia continued to smile. "Thanks Silvy!"

I nodded as she waddled out the door after Neptune. "Geez... That girl."

I walked over to Noire—who wore a smile—as she continued talking with the person on the phone. "Yeah, Neptune and Plutia are doing okay... Tell them that you're still Pissty?" Noire nodded. "Yeah, we should do this again sometime... Alright seeya."

*Click*

Noire set the phone down and ended the call. She looked over at me. "Who was that?" I asked.

Noire shrugged. "Just Histoire."

"What did she have to say?" I wondered.

"She was just asking about Neptune and Plutia and how they were doing," Noire answered.

At the sound of their names, Neptune and Plutia stepped back into Noire's room. "Did somebody use the Nep Signal?" Neptune asked.

I nodded. "We were just talking about you two," I explained.

"Oh, oh! Who called?" Neptune asked.

"Mini-Histoire," I answered.

Plutia frowned. "Is Histy stiiillllll mad?" She asked.

Noire shrugged. "All she said was that she was still Pissty, whatever that means..."

Neptune and Plutia let out a groan. "Awww..."

"But as long as you two work hard, I'm sure she'll be back to herself in no time," Noire reassured them.

"Fine..." The two girls chorused.

* * *

A few days had passed since Mini-Histoire had called Noire. We were still at Noire's home and not too much had changed. However, the thing that did change was amazing.

"Noooiiirre..." Plutia, who was carrying a large stack of paperwork, slowly reached Noire, who was sitting at her desk. Plutia set the paperwork down on Noire's desk. "I finished the paperwork. Buuut I drew a frowny face on the ones I didn't understand..."

Noire stared blankly between Plutia and the paperwork. "Um, thanks. I guess. Good job on finishing," Noire complimented her.

"Heeey! Siilvy!" I was sitting on the sofa, contemplating life, when Plutia ran up to me. "Oh, hey. What's up, Plutia?"

"Booo...you forgot!" Plutia pouted and she buried her head into my chest.

I cocked my head. "What do you mean I forgot?"

"You made that promise a few daays ago!" She began barraging me with her fists.

"H-Hey! S-Stop!... T-That...heh... That tickles!" I protested. Honestly, I found it strange that, when Plutia had a doll, she could break practically anything with it. But when she used her fists, you could barely feel it. It only felt like she was tickling you. Seriously, what were those dolls made of!?

I sighed. "What do you want from me?! Do you want me to praise you?"

Plutia's barrage stopped and she smiled. "Uuuh-huuuh!"

I let out a groan. "You really are one strange girl, Plutia," I remarked as I patted her head.

She blushed. "Ehehehe... Yay! Silvy's praise makes me feel sooo good!" Plutia rubbed her cheek against my chest. "Siilllvy... Mmghm..."

I looked down at her, concerned as my face became flushed. "Um, Plutia?"

"Yeeaaah...?"

"W-Why are you rubbing your cheek against me?" I asked.

"Because you feeeel really nice!" Plutia stated as she continued cuddling with my chest.

"Well...um," I looked over at Noire. She was staring back at me, confused. "Um, Noire?"

She quickly turned her head back to her desk as if she hadn't noticed what Plutia was doing. "Hey! Noire! Don't just leave me!"

Just then, Neptune burst through the door. For some reason, her hands were behind her back. "I'm home, y'all!"

"Neppy!" Plutia got off my chest and ran over to Neptune.

Neptune ran over to Noire and grinned in her face. "Hey, Noire! Guess what?"

Noire looked up at Neptune. "What is it? What's got you so excited?"

Neptune pulled a bag from behind back. It was a bag of sweets. "I completed—no joke—three quests today!"

I smiled at Neptune. "Really?! All by yourself?"

Neptune nodded. "Yup! I did so great, that one of the clients gave me this bag of candy!" Neptune flashed me the bag of candy.

"…" Noire stared blankly at the two Planeptune CPUs.

"Huh?" Neptune looked back at Noire. "What's wrong Noire?" Neptune offered her the bag of sweets. "You can have some candy if you'd like."

Noire shook her head. "No, it's not that," reassured Noire. "It's just that you two have been working so well for the past few days. It's hard to believe you two had been slacking."

Neptune grinned and turned to Plutia. "Didja hear that, Plutie? Noire actually said we did a good job!"

Plutia giggled. "Ehehehe... Noire praised us..." She glanced over at Noire. "Heey, heey. Noire, does that mean we can take a nap now?" Plutia asked.

Noire sighed. "No. Why should we nap? How about we relax and watch some TV or something?" Noire suggested.

I shrugged. "I'd prefer something like tea."

Neptune frowned. "No! You two both got the wrong ideas! For the ultimate relaxation, we should eat some pudding. Haven't you two ever heard of Pudding and Chill?" Neptune asked.

I scratched me head. "Neptune. I'm pretty sure that's not a thing. You just now came up with that."

Neptune joined me on the sofa. "Well, then how should we relax?"

Noire sighed. "How about we just have some tea?"

I nodded. "That'd be nice..."

Noire nodded back. "Okay, I'll go make us some te—"

"LADY BLACK HEART! LADY BLACK HEART!" Suddenly, a guard burst through the door. It was the same guard as the one we had seen yesterday.

We all turned our attention to the guard, panting at the door. "W-What's wrong?" Noire asked.

"T-There's..haa...haa...an emergency!" The guard responded, out of breath.

"Okay. Calm down and explain the situation to me," Noire instructed.

"Sorry," the guard caught his breath and wiped the sweat from his brow. "I just don't why all the shit happens on my shift. If I hadn't covered for that guy, I could've been at home, drinking, watching—"

"Okay, now you're being too calm!" Noire pointed out. "Just explain the situation to me!"

"Sorry!" The guard nodded. "Right. L-Lowee's CPU is at the border, demanding for you!"

Noire's eyes widened. "What, really?! There are guards watching her, right?"

The guard scratched his head. "Um, no. I was in such a rush to get here, that I forgot about it," then he quickly added. "But, the last time I saw her, she was still waiting there!"

Noire let out a sigh. "Fine. We'll just go meet her there," Noire turned back to us. "Change in plan, everyone. We're going to go see Lowee's CPU."

Neptune's face lit up. "Lowee's CPU? Oh, yeah! That's Blanc!"

I got up from the sofa and did a light stretch. "Then what're we waiting for? Let's go already!"

* * *

Neptune pointed in front of her. "Look, there she is! It's Blanc!"

I nodded. "That definitely looks like Blanc."

In front of us stood Blanc in her HDD form. Like Noire and Neptune's HDD forms, her appearance has also changed. While her facial features remained the same, her attire has changed a bit.

Her bathing-suit-like outfit's white colors remain the same, but her faded blue colors have been replaced by a cherry red color, the once-spiked parts at her fingertips have been removed and now her glove fingertips were a black color. Also her leggings and boots were now lined by the same cherry red color.

Noire smirked. "So, she wants a fight, does she? Well, I give her one."

*Ching!*

Noire transformed into her HDD form and flew towards Blanc. Plutia tugged on Neptune's sleeve. "Come on, Neppy! Weee should go too!"

Neptune furiously shook her head. "Nopey, nope!"

Plutia turned back to Neptune. "Huuh? Why?"

Neptune shivered. "See, normally Blanc is a nice and quiet girl. But if you make her mad, it's like that giant green guy who smashes everything, except worse!" Do you mean Hulk?

"Wooow... She sounds scary!" Plutia commented.

Neptune nodded. "She is! And if she goes, HDD..." Neptune glanced over at Blanc. "It will be the end for everyone!"

"Ahhh!" Plutia ran and hid behind a bush.

"Hey, don't leave me!" Neptune joined her in the bush, leaving me standing out in the open.

I sighed and jogged after Noire, who seemed to be arguing with Blanc.

"Huh?" Blanc's attention snapped when she noticed me. "Who the hell is this guy? Another loser you know?"

Noire let out a chuckle. "Please. This guy is anything but a loser. If he were a CPU, he would be able to take our shares from right under our noses!"

Blanc's face twisted in disgust. "There' s no damn way he could!"

I smirked. "Maybe not. But you wouldn't know unless you tried."

"I don't give a crap! What makes you so special anyways!?" Blanc demanded.

I grinned. "This."

Suddenly, everything around me grew a blood tint as I felt my Devils welling up inside me, as if the Devils' spirits were emitting themselves to the world to see.

As everything turned back to it's normal color, Blanc's face turned pale and she began to shake. "W-Who the hell are you!?"

I grinned. "I'm a Spawn..."

"What the hell is a Spawn?!"

I shook my head. "I think that display was enough to show you what a Spawn is."

Blanc turned back to Noire. "You and your damn nation," She jabbed a finger towards me. "You're letting something like THAT roam around in your nation?!"

Noire shrugged. "I don't see what's wrong about it. He can control it and doesn't harm anyone. Unlike you and your trash nation with their out-of-date consoles!"

Blanc gritted her teeth. "Shut your mouth!"

Noire crossed her arms. "Oh, sorry. I forgot that you wanted to say something. What was it? I'm on a busy schedule."

Blanc stood up straight. "Great. Now you'll actually listen. W-Well...I wanted to say that...um...I—"

"LADY BLACK HEART! LADY BLACK HEART!" Oh, not this guy again!

We all turned to the guard, who had reported to us earlier. "You again?! What is it this time?!" Noire demanded.

"T-There's...a factory...haa...under attack."

"What!? By who!?"

"I-I...don't know. A robot just came in and started destroying the factory."

Noire facepalmed. "You're supposed to know this! At least tell me the scale of damage!"

The guard scratched his head. "Um...well, I didn't pay attention to the report..."

"…." Noire stared disappointed at the guard. "This makes Neptune and Plutia look good. You know what, you're fired!" Noire looked over at Neptune and Plutia. "Come on you two! We're going now!"

The girls climbed out of the bushes. "Oookay!"

She turned back to Blanc. "And as for you. I don't know why you came here, but this will have to continue another time," she said as she flew off towards the factory.

"Hey! Wait!" Neptune called out. She turned back to Blanc. "Well, it was good seeing you and all, but we gotta advance the story. Smell ya later!"

Plutia waved Blanc a goodbye. "Byye-bye, Blanny!"

"Um, bye," Blanc replied, waving the two girls off. She turned to me. "Aren't you going to go after them?"

I nodded. "Yeah. But why'd you come here?"

Blanc balled a fist. "That's none of your business!" She shouted as she stormed back to Lowee.

After seeing her walk back, I dashed after Plutia and Neptune. "I wonder why a factory is being attacked..."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This ends another chapter. On a different note, the new upload schedule starts this week! So chapters will be uploaded every weekday now! Also, there is a poll on my account page that I would like for you all to check out. The poll will end at the start of August, so I would like for you all to respond by then. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	68. Chapter 68

Chapter 68

"Well, it looks like that guard was right about one thing," I commented as we approached the factory.

"Who could have done this?" Noire muttered.

"Siiilly Noire! That guard said it was a robot! Don't you remember?" Plutia asked.

"Yeah, Noire. I thought you were the smart one of this group," Neptune chimed in.

Noire cast them a glare. "Shut up!"

I sighed. "Well, robot or not, the one who did this certainly has to be strong to have done all this damage in such a short period of time."

The factory we had arrived at was one of the biggest. However, a chunk of it had already been destroyed. There was a gigantic hole in the wall, piles of rubble were stacked close to the factory and cracks were everywhere, allowing small rays of light to shine in. Glass was broken, there were broken game discs scattered everywhere and multiple support beams were broken off, slanting parts of the factory. Everything else just seemed to have been smashed to bits.

After we had left Blanc, it had taken us approximately ten minutes to get here. If the one responsible for this could cause this much damage so fast, they must be strong.

*Boom!*

"Over there!" Noire pointed towards the direction of the explosion.

"If the one who did this is still here, then we could make sure they never do it again," I said.

Noire nodded. "Yeah, but this guy must be strong if they could destroy so much in such a short period of time."

I let a chuckle escape my mouth. "Heh, I was just about to say the exact same thing."

Plutia stared at the two of us blankly. "Um...I don't get it. Buuut it sounds important..." She turned towards Neptune. "Hey, Neppy do you know what they're talking about?"

Neptune laughed dryly. "I wish I could say yes, but I really don't get it either Plutie."

I looked back at them. "Basically, we're going to be chasing the one who destroyed the factory."

Their faces now showed understanding. "Ooohh..."

"Yeah," I spun back to the factory. "Now, let's go save this factory!"

"Yeah!"

* * *

I pointed ahead of me. "Hey guys, I think I found the culprits."

"Reeaally? How can you tell?" Plutia asked.

I formed a grin and shrugged. "Just a hunch."

Standing in front of us was the rat—that had been with us when we fought Arfoire—and some giant robot mech.

The mech's primary color was an olive green with a secondary color of orange. It's head was green with an orange jaw, it's iris and pupil were colored a sky blue while the sclera was a light purple color. It had yellow horns jutting from it's sides, a red, circular object at it's forehead's center and a yellow nose piece.

Connecting to that, was it's gigantic green neck that was surrounded by an open-neck-collar-like orange piece. At the center of it's chest, was a golden lion mech's head, held on by blue pieces.

Sandy colored connectors attached it's arms. The arms had orange and white shoulder guards with golden spikes jutting from the top, the arms' bulky structure were also protected by black and orange, crystal-shaped pieces and—what seemed to be—steel green and orange arm guards.

An orange waist piece connected it's upper body to it's green base. On it's base sat two giant, cartridge-like objects. Both had a primary color of faded blue while they diversed in one having a red secondary, while another had a blue secondary color.

Lastly, what allowed the mech to move was a set of caterpillar tracks, with spikes at the wheels' sides and guarded by an orange piece above them. Nepgear would probably want this robot if she could have it.

The two of them seemed to be in the middle of an argument. "I'll help you, sure. But I'm screaming once that sadistic CPU broad gets here," the rat said.

"Bah! Whatever! I don't need somebody as weak as you helping me anyways!" The mech replied. Glad he's not one of those stereotypical robots with those generic voices.

"Then why'd you—"

Suddenly, Plutia called out towards the rat. "Heeey! Heeeellllo Mister Rat!" Plutia happily waved at the rat.

The two of them turned their attention towards us. "Hey, I have a name! It's Warechu you dumb—" He tensed up when his vision landed on Plutia. "Oh no! It's HER!"

I turned to Noire. "Well, I think we can confirm who are the culprits behind this whole mess, can't we Noire?"

She nodded as she balled a fist. "The Seven Sages."

"That's right!" The mech roared. "And I am the strongest, and greatest member of them all! COPYPASTE!"

Like every Seven Sages member, a text box appeared displaying his name. His box's theme resembled his robot design.

*Brrrinnnnng...*

However, his voice was so loud, that it caused our ears to ring. In an attempt to fix this, we covered up our ears, but the ringing was still there.

"HEY! WHAT GIVES FOR YELLING!?" I shouted.

"I CAAAAN'T HEAR!" Plutia cried out.

"ANYBODY GOT ANY EARPLUGS?!" Neptune yelled.

The ringing began to fade as Noire uncovered her ears. "Oh, wait. Yeah... The ringing's going away."

"Ah, that's better," I said as I shook my head.

"Heeey," Plutia pointed towards Warechu, who was slumped over. "Why's Mister Rat look sooo sad?"

"Forget it," he muttered, kicking a pebble. "I'll never get to do my cool intro..."

"Anyway..." I turned back to face Copypaste. "So, you're the guy responsible for causing all this aren't you? Why'd you do it? Wanted to have some fun or something?"

"HAHAHA!" He roared out a laugh,. "That's right! How'd you know?!"

"Um," I stared at him blankly. I had only meant that as a taunt. "Lucky guess?"

"What the?!" Warechu turned towards Copypaste. "Hey! That's not what you're supposed to say!"

Copypaste looked down at Warechu. "Wait, I'm supposed to be saying something?'

Warechu let out a groan and pulled out some index cards from god-knows-where. "Here, read these," Warechu then quickly added, "You stupid idiot..."

"Give me those," Copypast snatched the cards from Warechu and squinted his eyes at the cards. "Um... Ha, ha, ha. This was all just a part of our plan," he explained in the most monotone voice. "Thanks to Lowee's CPU, we were able to distract you all so that we could d-de..." Copypaste showed the index card to Warechu. "Hey, what's that word?"

"Demolish," Warechu coughed out.

"Oooh!" Copypaste cleared his throat. "Thanks to Lowee's CPU, we were able to distract you all so that we could _demolish_ this factory," Copypaste turned down to Warechu once again. "Wait, why does Lowee's CPU matter?! I don't remember having help from that CPU!"

"SHUT UP!" Warechu snarled.

"So, you're telling me that Lowee's CPU was there, so that you could destroy this factory," Noire concluded. "I knew it! Oh, when I get my hands on her!"

"Heeey, Neppy," Plutia put a finger to her chin. "I don't really understand what's going on, but does that mean Blanny is evil?"

Neptune shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I kind of stopped listening because there was too much talking. But I guess."

"Oooh..."

I looked over at the girls. "There's no possible way you three actually believe that claim, right?"

Noire shrugged her shoulders. "I mean it's the only clear explanation we can draw up."

I sighed, defeated. "Yeah, I can't think of anything better. However, I still don't think they're telling the truth," I remarked. I mean did you not hear how expressionless his voice sounded?

"HEY! ARE WE GOING TO FIGHT OR NOT?!" Copypaste boomed.

Noire glared back at the robot.

*Ching!*

Noire, now in HDD, answered. "Oh, we'll fight. And I'll make sure you pay for destroying MY factory!" A hint of blood lust glinted in Noire's eyes. She turned to Plutia. "Plutia, transform! Right now!"

"WHAT!?" Neptune and I cried out.

Plutia cocked her head. "Are you sure? You always said neeever to transform..."

"I'm letting you do it this one time," Noire said. "I won't get any closure until this robot is lying dead at my feet!"

"Noire," I called out. "I think you might want to chill."

She also glared at me. "I'll chill once you help me crush this thing into scrap metal!"

I groaned. "Uuugh... Fine."

*Ching!*

As I unsheathed my blade and activated my body to act at eighty percent, Plutia transformed into her HDD form, Iris Heart. "Oh boy. Now I can have fun crushing this thing to nuts and bolts, all thanks to Noire's privilege!"

I turned to Noire. "Noire, do you not remember how cruel she can be in this form? Or do you have a deathwish?" I asked.

Noire waved me off. "Relax. If it comes down to it, we can all restrain her."

"Yeah, but I think that would prove more difficult than stopping this mech," I muttered.

"Fufufu... Oh how I'd love to see my dear Silvy hold me back," Plutia gave me a suggestive look and licked her lips. "Don't worry. I'll let you do whatever you want with my body..."

I shuddered. "No thanks. I think I'm fine."

"Really? Oh well, I'll keep the offer up in case you ever want to please yourself with me," Plutia said before turning over to Neptune. "How about you, Neppy?"

Neptune stood shocked by suddenly being called out. "Huh? Me?"

Plutia nodded. "Yes."

"What about me? I think I'm doing a pretty good job just watching like everyone else!"

Plutia, tisking, shook her head and wagged her finger. "No, no, no. That simply won't do," Plutia stated. "Either you join us in crushing this robot to smithereens, or we'll crush your body instead."

"If that's the case, then count me in," Noire piped up.

Neptune and I turned to Noire. "Noire, I always knew you were a Tsundere, but are you also turning into a Yandere?" Neptune asked. "Look, if you want to be a Yandere, there's already a simulator for that. Just don't turn into a real one."

"Ditto," I agreed. "But Neptune, you seriously might want to transform," I suggested. "You know Plutia doesn't tell jokes in that form."

Neptune nodded. "Yeah, I probably should do that," she agreed. "Behold! The true power of Planeptune's Goddess!"

*Ching!*

The white light engulfed Neptune as she transformed into her HDD form, Purple Heart. "Alright, now we're ready to take this thing on."

"Crap! I'm getting out of here, chu!" Warechu scrambled away.

"Should we chase after him?" I asked.

"Let him be. This robot is my main concern," Noire stated.

"ALRIGHT! TIME TO WIN!" Copypaste bumped his fists together. "MAKE SURE YOU PREPARE MY VICTORY FEAST!" Copypaste called after Warechu.

Plutia frowned. "You know, this is actually pretty boring."

I turned towards her. "And why's that?"

She let out a yawn. "Because it's always been us four against one of these Seven Sages members," she explained.

Neptune nodded. "That's actually true. And then, when they claim they'll win, they end up losing."

I thought for a moment. "Actually, you're right."

"HEY! STOP TALKING AND LET'S FIGHT ALREADY! Copypast roared out.

I sighed. "Well, maybe it'll be different this time. Maybe, it'll be an actually challenge."

"I doubt it," Plutia commented.

"Whatever. Let's just get this over with," Neptune said.

I nodded. "Right."

We dashed towards him.

*Bang!*

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here is another chapter. Sorry this came out a bit later, but I was busy with work. But I don't have much to say this time, however, in case you haven't, go vote on the poll on my page. It isn't mandatory but I would really appreciate it if you all did go vote. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	69. Chapter 69

Chapter 69

*Crash!*

As Copypaste's fist came crashing down on us, we scattered away to avoid the blow. After I had sidestepped his fist, I pulled back my fist and smashed at his arm.

*Bang!*

The force of impact created a shockwave that blew off his hand. Leaving sparking wires, nuts and bolts visible. Copypaste stumbled back. "HEY! HOW'D YOU DO TH—"

"Hah!"

"There!"

*Clang!*

From behind, Neptune and Noire swung at Copypaste. Somehow, the robot manged to dodge Noire's strike in a way that made her blade clash against Neptune's.

"HA! YOU TWO WILL HAVE TO DO BETTER THAN—"

*Clang!* *Bang!* *Crash!*

"Yah!"

"Take this!"

Plutia and I attacked at it from both sides. When Plutia swung her connected blade at it's head, the robot somehow managed to repel the blade with it's remaining arm. Using that as an opportunity, I jumped at it, lunged a fist at it's lion chest and smashed it.

*Boom!*

The blow sent Copypaste slamming into a wall, creating rubble around him. "HEY! HOW COME YOU'RE SO STRONG KID!?"

I dashed once more at him and lunged at it's head. "Urgh!"

*Clamp!*

But, without realizing it, Copypast caught me in his free arm, removed himself from the wall and squeezed tightly me. "NOW YOU CAN'T HURT ME ANYMORE!"

A smirk crossed my face. "Heh."

"HUH? WHAT'S SO FUNNY?! YOU'RE ABOUT TO DIE!" Copypast boomed.

"It's just that I was thinking about the answer to your question," I replied.

"THEN WHAT'S YOUR ANSWER!? HURRY UP! I DON'T LIKE WAITING!"

As the girls came from behind, I answered. "My answer is I have people that I need to protect!"

"Huh?" Copypaste cocked his head.

*Bang!* *Clang!* *Crack!* *Crash!*

"Hah!"

"Rah!"

"Enjoy your punishment!"

Right at that moment, Noire, Plutia and Neptune came from behind Copypaste and attacked him. Neptune drove her blade deep into his head, Noire filled her blade with rainbow energy and sliced at Copypaste's body, creating a clean diagonal cut through his chest and Plutia performed two quick diagonal slashes at Copypaste's entire body, creating a 'V' symbol.

Copypaste's grip loosened and I fell to the floor. I landed on my feet and slowed down time. There were probably seconds before he blew up. I activated Level Three and dashed towards the robot. The rush and swirling feeling of the power and speed filled my body as I closed in on Copypaste.

"Tah!"

*Shang!* *Shink!* *Shnk!* *Shwing!*

Performing several quick cuts through Copypaste's body, I resumed time.

*BANG!* *CRASH!* *BOOM!*

The second time resumed, his body was cut into multiple, tiny pieces and they began to spark and crackle as Copypaste's head feel to the ground. "IMPOSSIBLE! THERE'S NO WAY I COULD'VE LOST! THIS CAN'T BE!"

*Boom!*

Those were the last words he uttered before he blew up. I sighed. "Well, looks like you were right Plutia," I looked up at her. But she wasn't where she had been. "Plutia?"

Suddenly, I heard a whisper in my ear. "How about you claim me as your reward for killing that robot. We could 'let off some steam' together..." I knew who exactly that was, and these pants were going to stay on!

I turned around. Of course, it was Plutia. My face reddened. "No! I'm not going to do anything weird with you! Knock it off, Plutia!" I demanded.

Plutia smiled at my response. "Oh? So you wouldn't like it if I pressed my body against yours?" She questioned.

"No! I wouldn't—Hey!" Before I could say anything else, Plutia pressed her body against mine and pinned my arms against the wall, causing me to feel a warm and soft sensation. Seeking aid, I turned to Noire and Neptune. "Hey! Help me you two!"

They looked at each and nodded. "I don't think so," Noire responded. "You alone have the best chance at restraining Plutia, so we see no reason to interfere," Noire claimed as she scooted further away from us.

"YOU'RE JUST SAYING THAT BECAUSE YOU DON'T WANT IT TO HAPPEN TO YOU!" I shouted.

"Hey..." Plutia made me face her. "Don't you want to have some fun? I could show you a good time..."

I squirmed a bit. "I already said no!"

"Aww~… But I want to have some fun with you, Silvy," Plutia pressed her face close to mine. Her nose was now touching mine. "Don't you?"

"…" My face was now beet red. It didn't help that she was still pressing towards me. "That's it!"

*Thud!* *Ching!*

Using my feet, I knocked Plutia away from me by kicking at her gut, sending her flying back. The blow was so strong, that it knocked her out of HDD. Maybe I put a bit too much force into that blow?

I let out a sigh. "Geez..." I turned to Neptune. "Neptune, why didn't you help me out?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I didn't want to get wrapped up in that mess."

"Yeah, but what about your sister?" I asked. "What if Nepgear had found out about what Plutia had just tried to do? She would be devastated."

The realization suddenly hit Neptune. "Yeah, you're right," Neptune nodded. "Sorry. I'll promise to be a better sister next time and help stop that type of stuff from happening to you again."

I showed a small smile. "Thanks Neptune."

Right as I reset my body to twenty percent and deactivated my Devils' energy, Plutia waddled back to us. "I'm sooory Silvy," Plutia apologized as she bowed her head.

"It's fine," I patted her head.

Plutia smiled. "But, I have a question. If the Seven Sages lose a member, are they still the SEVEN Sages?"

Neptune grinned. "Yeah, they'll probably stick to it because it has a ring to it. Calling them the Six Sages just doesn't sound as cool."

"Ditto," I agreed. "Anyways, what happens now?"

*Bang!*

Noire slammed her fist against a wall, creating a huge dent in it. "Damnit!"

Plutia jumped into the air. "Ah!"

"That stupid CPU from Lowee! I knew she had a reason for coming here! I'll get her back for this!"

*Ching!*

Neptune reverted back to her normal self. "Woah, chillax Noire. Blanc's pretty angry sometimes and can do some pretty reckless stuff, but she would never make such plans! Much less work with somebody!"

*Ching!*

Noire also reverted back to her normal state. "Yeah. But that's the Blanc from YOUR dimension, not our's."

"Uh-oh," Neptune turned to Plutia. "What'll we do Plutie? She won't listen!"

Plutia, however, rubbed her eyes. "I don't knoow... But I know I'm sleeepy..." Plutia rested her head on my shoulder. I sighed.

Neptune nodded. "I can understand the words you're putting on the table right now, Plutie," Neptune agreed as she let out a yawn. "Anyways, why don't we head home?" Neptune suggested.

I nodded. "Yeah, that sounds nice."

Plutia slowly nodded. "Naaaps..."

Before I could dash off with the two girls, I felt a tug on my sleeve, turning around, I realized it was Noire. "Hm? What's up, Noire?"

She wore a slight blush. "U-Um...W-Will...you...come back...again?"

I smiled and pulled her into a tight hug. "Of course I will. You're a good friend. So of course I'll return. I promise."

Even though I couldn't see Noire's face right now, I knew that she was smiling. "T-Thank you...Silver..."

I separated from her. "Until next time," I waved her a goodbye and dashed off after the Planeptune girls...

* * *

 **Tolise's POV**

I gulped down the last of my coffee. "Wait, why am I drinking coffee when I could just heal my senses?" I wondered aloud.

"Perhaps you're simply becoming too sleepy to think rationally," Histoire suggested.

I shrugged and let a yawn escape my mouth. "Perhaps. But we have to hurry and find a way for Silver and Neptune to return home."

Histoire nodded. "That is true. Planeptune's shares are dropping at a rapid rate and more people are joining the Citizens Group."

I rubbed at my eyes. "It's alright. This is the last page we have to read anyways."

"But what if the solution isn't in here?" Histoire questioned.

I chuckled. "It isn't like you to get all doubtful," I cracked my knuckles. "But, if that's the case, we'll figure something out."

"How can you be so sure?"

I flashed Histoire a smile. "Because Silver taught me the important lesson of never giving up. That there's always a way and that bad things will eventually come to an end. Someway and somehow. It's all through Determination."

"Wow. Silver knew about Determination?"

I scratched my head. "No. He just saw it in some popular indie video game sometime back and it inspired him. Honestly, the way he talks about Determination, it's like he has this straight, clean path that he'll walk and never stop going down."

Histoire smiled. "Silver truly is a strange person..."

I traced the corners of the tome. "He is. But he always makes promises and sees them to the end. He believes in valuing others before himself; that even one person can change the future."

Histoire nodded. "He has shared this information with me before," Histoire commented. "And I have faith in him."

I nodded. "So do I," I returned my focus to the tome. "Now how about we see our goals to the end too?" I suggested.

Histoire nodded. "Yes."

"…"

"…"

Histoire let out a sigh. "Tolise, I don't think there's a solu—"

I jumped up from the chair. "THERE IT IS! WE FOUND IT! THE SOLUTION IS RIGHT THERE!"

I jabbed my finger on the section. "It's right there! We did it!"

"Really?" Histoire peered down at the pointed section and let out a gasp. "Oh my. This really is the solution. How could I have missed such an obvious solution?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. But it seems kind of lame actually."

"What do you mean?" Histoire asked.

"I mean it's so simple and such an easy process."

"Yes. But isn't that a good thing?"

I frowned. "I mean, sure. But Neptune and Silver will probably find it too easy."

Histoire sighed. "Well, whether they like it or not, I'm telling them..."

* * *

 **Silver's POV**

"We're hooome, Histy!" The two girls chorused upon entering the living room.

Mini-Histoire, who had been watching TV, turned back to them. "Oh, it's been awhile you two. (＾▽＾)"

"It's beeen sooo long since we've seen each other, Histy!" Plutia smiled. Plutia, it's been a week at max.

"Yes, and Noire has been telling me everything about you two! (^_^)" Mini-Histoire smiled.

Neptune grinned triumphantly. "Has she been telling you about how awesome and great we are?"

Mini-Histoire nodded. "Yes, she told me that the two of you had worked very diligently. (^▽^)"

Plutia and Neptune's grins widened. "Yaaay! Histy is praissing us!"

Suddenly, Mini-Histoire's face frowned. "Which means that you two have known how to work all along, but you two just chose to simply slack off! (0_0)"

The two girls shrunk back. "Crikey! She figured us out!" Neptune stated.

"So why haven't you two been doing your work correctly?! (≧σ≦)" Mini-Histoire demanded.

"Ummm..."

I moved to sit on the couch as the two girls continued to get lectured. I just wanted to sit down.

"Well, this will stop today! Because ABABABABA! Σ(゜ロ゜;)" Mini-Histoire suddenly began to spasm.

We all rushed to Mini-Histoire. "Mini-Histy!? What's wrong!? Do you need to see a mini doctor?" Neptune asked.

"N-N-N-No...I-I-I-I've...S-S-S-Simply...received...a...c-c-c-call... (･口･)"

"Really?! Who is it?" Neptune asked.

"The other me! (o_o)"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here is another chapter completed.** **Even though I currently have to go through summer school, I'm still going to write. But I now realize that there will be some days where I won't upload. The schedule will officially start and be constant once summer school ends. So just to let you know, if I don't upload, it's because I'm too busy with summer school and work. I hope you understand. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	70. Chapter 70

Chapter 70

"Really!?" Neptune picked up Mini-Histoire and began to shake her violently. "PUT HER THROUGH! PUT HER THROUGH!"

"PLEASE STOP SHAKING ME! I'LL HURL!（○□○）" Mini-Histoire's face began to turn a shade of green.

"Neptune! Let her go!" I pried Neptune off of Mini-Histoire and set her on my head. "Neptune, you have to learn some control."

"Ehehe... Sorry..."

I looked up at Mini-Histoire. "Anyways, put her through before Neptune strangles you again."

"Right. (￣Д￣)" She projected the holographic screen.

The big Histoire's face appeared on the screen. "I do apologize for the wait," Histoire bowed her head.

"You're telling me! How could you keep us waiting for three whole years!?" Neptune shouted.

Histoire cocked her head. "Eh? It's been merely three days. I don't understand what you mean."

Neptune flailed her arms. "Don't lie to me! I may not be the brightest marker in the crayon box, but I at least know how time works and it's been three—" Neptune paused for a second and let Histoire's words sink in. "Three days?"

I scratched my chin. "That's impossible. It's been three years since we arrived here..."

Neptune nodded and turned to Plutia. "Plutie, did we get here three days ago?"

Plutia scratched her head. "Uummm... I think you two got here a reeeaally long time ago..."

"Excuse me," Mini-Histoire piped up. "But according to my records, you and Silver arrived here three years ago. (･_･)"

"Really!?" Histoire seemed taken back by our statements. "There's no way that could be possible! My records say that it has been three days here!"

I continued scratching my chin. "Hmmm... So the possibility could be that our time intervals differ," I suggested.

Histoire nodded. "That could very well be the case," she agreed. "But that is convenient for us."

I nodded. "Yeah, imagine if it would have taken you three years to establish a connection. The Citizens Group might've already taken over."

Histoire sighed. "Speaking of which, they still continue to grow rapidly. If three years were to have already passed over here, then we certainly would've been doomed."

I looked down at the floor. "Yeah..."

Plutia scratched her head. "Uummmm... I don't get what's going on..."

I cast her a sympathetic smile. "Don't worry. It doesn't apply to you."

Plutia smiled innocently and giggled. "Oh. Oookay..."

"Anyways," Neptune piped up. "How do we get home?"

Histoire smiled. "It is a very simple task."

"Wait, wait, Histy!" Neptune held up her hands and turned to Plutia. "Plutie, go grab a crayon and some paper so that we can cray some notes down!"

Plutia nodded. "Oookay!" Plutia dashed off towards her room.

Histoire sighed. "Like I said, this task is very simple. All you have to do is simply collect shares for Planeptune."

Neptune nodded. "Alright. That's step number one. What's the second step?"

Histoire shrugged. "That is simply all that has to be done."

"What?" Neptune and I stared at Histoire blankly. "What do you mean 'that's all'!?" I questioned.

Mini-Histoire nodded. "I agree. Even I would like a better description.（─。─）"

"Well, it's explained on the last page of our tomes. I just simply skimmed over it," Histoire explained.

"Really!? Perhaps I didn't pay attention to it either?! （・□・）" Mini-Histoire thought aloud as she scratched her head.

"Simply, we Histoires have an ability to create a gateway between dimensions," Histoire explained. "We just simply need to take the shares from a CPU's nation to create the gateway."

Neptune and I groaned. "Uugh..."

Histoire turned her head to us. "Hm? What is the matter you two?"

"The solution is too simple!" We whined.

Histoire let out a sigh. "So Tolise was right. Guess you two don't like the solution..."

"Yeah! Because it's too simple and easy!" I claimed. "I thought it would something more difficult like killing every living monster or finding seven magic balls!"

"Yeah and collecting shares has been the same exact thing for the last few storylines!" Neptune agreed.

"Neppy! Look, I brought my pencil and it has bite marks on it!" Plutia came back wagging her pencil at Neptune. "Look! Look!" She poked at Neptune's face with the eraser end.

Neptune ignored Plutia. "But Histy! Why can't the solution be finding some black umbrella that can create portals or finding a gun that can create dimensional portals?!"

Histoire shook her head. "Well, it doesn't matter because this is the only available solution. Plus, I'm getting pretty tired of the other CPUs having to cover for you while you're gone!"

"Eh?" Neptune and I cocked our heads. "What do you mean the other CPUs are covering for Neptune?" I asked.

"Since Neptune is absent, the other CPUs have decided to take turns helping out Planeptune. So, until Neptune returns, Planeptune doesn't have an actual CPU," Histoire explained. "And that also means that Planeptune's shares over here are also declining at a rapid rate."

"What!? But I'm the main character!" Neptune nodded. "Alright, that means I have to get home to appeal to all my followers!"

Histoire cocked her head. "But Noire has the most followers."

"Yeah, I know Noire—" Neptune cut herself off again. "SAY WHAT!?"

Histoire jumped back. "Do not shout so suddenly! What is the meaning for your sudden burst?"

"Why does Noire have the most followers?! I'M the main character!" Neptune cried out.

Histoire scratched her head. "Well, we recently ran a poll to see which CPU people would place their faith in and Noire was first."

"But she's too Tsundere! How can she beat the adorable main protagonist!?"

Histoire shrugged her shoulders. "It's probably because you're so hard to talk to. You always speak so weirdly," Histoire explained. "But I have to go now. Work hard and increase your shares. Until next time!"

The screen faded away.

"HEY! WAIT! AT LEAST TELL ME I'M IN SECOND PLACE!" Neptune cried out.

"Well, it seems like the other me has ended the call once again. (o.o)"

Plutia giggled. "Ehehehe... Noire is soooo popular!"

"…" Neptune dropped her head.

I tapped her shoulder. "What's wrong Neptune?"

She looked up at Mini-Histoire. "I'm sorry, Mini-Histy..."

Mini-Histoire cocked her head. "Sorry? For what?"

Neptune formed a grin. "I'll try my best to get shares for Planeptune so that I can go home!"

Mini-Histoire stared blankly at Neptune. "Neptune, are you okay? Did you hit your head earlier?（・.・）"

"I'll work my super-duper bestest so that I can return home!" Neptune pledged.

"What's with your sudden motivation to work?" I asked.

Neptune's eyes sparkled. "I'll hurry and return home so that I can claim my place as first on the poll and beat up Noire!" Neptune claimed.

"…"

"…"

"Um...Neppy..."

We all stared at Neptune worriedly. "It's nice that you want to hurry and return home, Neptune," I agreed. "But I don't think that those are the best motives to get you to go home."

Mini-Histoire laughed dryly. "Well, at least it's SOME type of motivation to get you to work. (•́ _ •̀; )"

I sighed. "Well, at least she's motivated..."

* * *

A few days had passed since Histoire's call. Now, we were out doing a quest that Neptune had dragged Plutia and I out to do with her. Even though the quest would help Planeptune's shares, it was an extremely easy one so it wouldn't increase Planeptune's shares by much. All we had to do was defeat a few Dogoos.

"Neptune, I know you said you'd start questing, but aren't these quests a bit too easy?' I questioned.

She shook her head. "It may not be much, but it'll still increase our shares! Like they say 'Slow and steady wins the race'," Neptune recited.

"Ooh! Is that from the book about the rabbit and the squirrel?' Plutia asked.

"Actually, it's the tortoise and the hare, Plutia," I corrected her.

"Ohh..."

"Listen, Neptune," I called out towards her. "Slow and steady might win the game, but how long do you think that'll take? Shares will constantly be taken from us and this quest can't make up for those lost shares. By the time we have enough shares to get home, the Citizens Group would've probably already destroyed everything," I explained. "These quests are just too slow for increasing shares!"

"Well, I don't really want to do tough quests," Neptune responded. "It's too hard."

I sighed as we reached an area filled with Dogoos. "Oh well. Do as you please..."

Upon noticing us, the Dogoos stampeded towards us. We pulled out our weapons.

*Shk!* *Swk!*

As a few bound towards me, I slashed at them while sidestepping. One Dogoo instantly splattered into millions of gel bits upon contact while the others simply received cuts to their bodies. Once I touched the ground, I dashed towards them.

*Shwing!* Bang!*

I slashed diagonally down, cleanly cutting through one Dogoo and slamming another into the ground, causing it's gel body to blow up everywhere. After I made sure the Dogoos were dead, I observed my surroundings.

Plutia was being attacked by several Dogoos while Neptune was shredding through multiple hordes. I decided to join Plutia. "Yah!"

*Crash!* *Blosh!*

I slammed my blade down on a line of Dogoos coming towards her, causing Dogoo gel to blow up in my face. Good thing this wasn't blood or it'd be really hard to clean up. But even if it wasn't blood, it sure was cold and sticky.

"Thanks Silvy!" Plutia acknowledged.

I nodded. "How about we take out these Dogoos together?" I suggested.

Plutia smiled before nodding firmly. "Yeeaah!"

"Nrahhh!" A wave of Dogoo bounded towards us.

*Shk!* *Crash!* *Bang!* Boom!*

As one leaped towards us, I sliced the Dogoo down the middle and it plopped to the ground before exploding. Suddenly, I felt a shadow above me. I looked up to see another Dogoo about to land on me, so I kicked it back towards Plutia who smashed it like it was a baseball. Only this baseball blew up. A group of three Dogoos came from behind Plutia and I leapt towards them. Quickly filling my blade with my Devils' energy, I slashed at the Dogoo, creating a wave of energy that cut them all into tiny pieces.

"…!" Plutia swung her doll behind me, catching me off guard and bursting several Dogoos.

We looked around. "That's it," I said, checking our surroundings for anymore Dogoos. "This area has been cleared of Dogoos."

Plutia clapped her hands as Neptune came running towards us. "Yaaay! We did it!"

I looked over at Neptune, who was sweating a bit at her forehead. "Why'd you take on those Dogoos by yourself? We could've helped you?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I have to learn to fend for myself if I want to be able to get stronger."

I shook my head. "But don't you see that doing this on your own won't work? Being alone isn't fun and that's what friends are for," I told. "Don't you think?"

Neptune thought for a moment before answering. "Hmm... I guess," she shrugged. "Sorry."

Plutia and I smiled at her. "It's okay Neppy..."

"So, did we finish the quest?" I asked.

Neptune pulled out her quest manager and her eyes widened. "Um..."

"Whaaat is it Neppy?" Question marks floated over Plutia's head.

"Well..." Neptune laughed dryly. "We completed the quest six times actually."

My jaw dropped. That small share increase was multiplied by six, making increasing shares six times easier! "So I guess if we do keep doing this easy quest, then we could have Planeptune's shares up in no time!"

Neptune grinned. "See? I told ya! My awesome main protagonist powers helped me win! That's why I'll be in first during the next poll!"

"I worry about your intentions, Neptune," I released a sigh. "Shall we head home?"

The girls nodded. "Yeah!"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here's another chapter. I realized that there WILL be times where I will go on a hiatus. But sometimes I will leave for other reasons and the reasons why will be on my page. This is just to let you all know if any of you become confused. I just haven't had much time on my hands thanks to summer school and work. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	71. Chapter 71

Chapter 71

"There you all are!" Noire shouted as we all walked into Plutia's room. We tensed up at Noire's sudden shouting. Her face was red and she was glaring at us. "Now sit down!"

Obediently, we all sat our bottoms onto the living room couch. Mini-Histoire was already sitting on the couch. "Mini-Histy, why are you sitting with us?" Neptune asked.

"Noire pulled me in for her lecture too. (-_-;)" Mini-Histoire explained.

"Hey, Noire," I spoke up. "Are you alright?"

"No!" Noire gritted her teeth. "I'm so pissed right now!"

"Noire, you might want to try and take a chill pill," Neptune suggested.

"How can I!? It's all the Seven Sages and that CPU of Lowee's fault!" She shouted as she paced around in front of us. "They're monsters for what they did!"

"What did they do? (´･_･`)" Mini-Histoire asked.

"They repainted my CDs black, they pirated my games and are selling them as if they were their own and they stuck toothpicks into my controllers!" Noire balled up a fist.

"Buuut I thought you came here to play with us, Noire..." Plutia said.

"I'm too mad to play! I just need to voice my complaints to someone!"

"Why?" Neptune questioned.

"Because I don't have any other frie—" Noire caught herself before she spewed out her.

We all cast her a look of pity. "Noire..."

"Awww..." The girls chorused.

"Shut up!" Noire shouted.

Neptune sighed. "Well, I guess I'll be a good person and listen to your boring complaining," she offered.

"Oh really?" Noire switched her attention over to Neptune. "Well, I'll be sure to make sure you listen to all of my complaints," Noire stated.

"Wait, what!?" Neptune seemed taken back. "She was supposed to get all Tsundere when I said that! Why didn't she!?" Neptune questioned.

"She seems to have a lot of stress on her right now, (゜_゜)" Mini-Histoire proposed.

I sighed. "Well, looks like we're going to all be here for a while," I commented.

Plutia raised her hand. "Ummm...Noire..."

"What?! I'm kind of in the middle of something."

"Well, I thought you came here to play..." Plutia stated. "Sooo...could you pleeaaase stop complaining? It's suuper boring..."

"Like I said, I have nobody else to complain to, so just sit tight and let me vent!"

"Mmghmm..." Plutia locked her eyes on Noire and cast her a deadly glare.

"Um, Noire. You might want to stop pretty soon now," I recommended.

She looked over at me. "Why? Am I not allowed to be here anymore?!"

I shook my head. "No, but..." I pointed to the girl sitting beside me. "That."

"What about it?"

"Noire, please hurry and calm your lonely personality!" Neptune pleaded.

"I-I just remembered I had to clean Plutia's room! I'll be excused! (ﾟДﾟ)" Mini-Histoire scurried into Plutia's room and slammed the door shut.

Neptune called after her. "Hey! That's not fair! You can't leave the two of us!"

I looked back at Plutia. "And you won't listen... Allll you do is complain and complain and complain..." Plutia gritted her teeth.

Noire finally seemed to come to understand why we were warning her. "O-Oh crap," she bowed at Plutia. "I-I'm sorry! P-Please forgive me! I-I was just really mad! Please smile again, please?" Noire pleaded.

But Plutia ignored Noire. "Weeellll...if that's how you feel..."

*Ching!*

Before us now stood the more sadistic version of Plutia. "Then how about you go voice your opinion in Lowee!?"

"Yipes!" Neptune tensed up and hid behind me. "Silver! Protect me!"

"I don't want to do it!" I stated.

Plutia turned to both of us, wearing her jolliest smile. "Neppy, Silvy?"

"Yes?"

Neptune—who had a cold sweat—came back into Plutia's vision and saluted. "Yes, my lady Plutia?"

"I need to have a little 'chat' with Noire," Plutia explained. "So could you two do me a huge favor and kindly get the hell out of this room!?"

I shrugged. "Sure."

Neptune's feared expression suddenly turned blank. "Really? We can go? Sweet!" She dashed off towards Plutia's room and I followed close behind her.

"Wait! Don't leave me!" Noire called out after us. "Noooo!"

*Click*

I clicked the door close behind me and turned to face Neptune and Mini-Histoire. "Well, I guess we wait now," I said.

Neptune nodded. "Yeah, but it'd be boring just wondering when they'd finish," she stated. "Any ideas on what we should do while we wait?"

I shrugged and pointed towards the console sitting at the TV. "How about we just play games?"

"Sure!"

* * *

"…"

"…"

A few hours had passed since Noire and Plutia had been left in the living room. "It's deadly quiet now..." Neptune commented. "Hey, Mini-Histy, go do some recon!"

"What!? Why me?!ヽ(ﾟДﾟ)ﾉ" Mini-Histoire questioned.

"Because you're the smallest and hardest to hit," Neptune responded. "There's no way they could hit you!"

"Yes, but if I do get hit, I could probably die!(o_o)" Mini-Histoire argued. She looked over at me. "Silver, why don't you do it!?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I don't want to use my Devils. It'll probably end up destroying the Basilicom. Plus I don't have a medical box to use."

The door creaked open and Plutia, in her normal form, popped her head in. "Heeeey... What're you guys doing in here?"

"Yikes!" Neptune fell to the ground. "P-Plutia!? W-Where's Noire!? Neptune asked as she looked out the door. "Um..."

"What is it?" I fully opened the door and looked for Noire. "Oh."

"What's the matter?" Mini-Histoire joined us. "Oh.(･.･)"

Noire sat upright on the couch. The only problem was that she wasn't being herself. "MUST GO TO LOWEE. COMPLAIN. GO TO LOWEE. LOWEE. LOWEE. LOWEE."

Not only was she now repeating the same phrases over and over again, but her eyes were also hollowed out, as if she had been brainwashed.

"Sweet Neps! What happened to Noire!?" Neptune asked.

Plutia giggled and smiled proudly. "I had a looong talk with Noire and now, she's going to go play with us in Lowee..."

I looked back at Plutia. "Yeah, but what did you do to her?" I asked.

She continued to shine her smile. "That's a seeecret..."

"Oh man. Now I can never get on Plutie's bad side or I'll meet the same fate as Noire..." Neptune muttered under her breath.

I sighed and decided to switch the subjects.. "I guess we're heading to Lowee now," I concluded.

Plutia threw her hands into the air. "Yaaay! Now we can all go plaaay!"

"Yeah sure, but..." Neptune pointed at Noire. "I think we should wait before we head out for Lowee," Neptune recommended.

"Huuuh? Why?" Plutia asked, cocking her head.

"How can we go if Noire is in this state?" I questioned. "We should wait for her to recover before setting out ," I suggested. "She just seems like a crazy person in her current condition."

Plutia slumped over. "Boo... Nooiirrre... Hurry up or we'll have to talk again..." Plutia threatened.

I sighed. "I don't think threatening will work this time. She's kinda of brainwashed at the moment."

"Awww..." Plutia frowned. "Weellll...then what do we do?"

"We wait," I replied.

* * *

"TO LOWEE...TO LOWEE...TO LOWEE...Low—huh?" Noire seemed to have finally snapped out of her trance.

"Oh my Nep!" Neptune snapped her head to Noire. "Noire, are you awake?"

Noire began massaging her temple. "I-I guess... But my head hurts really bad whenever I try to remember what happened before."

I dashed up to her and held up several finger. "Noire, how many fingers am I holding up?"

"U-Um, four?"

I sighed. "Alright, I guess you're alright."

Plutia giggled. "Ehehehe... Now we can all go to Loweee..."

Upon mentioning Lowee, Noire's expression turned serious. "That's right. For some reason, I have this strong desire to go to Lowee and voice my complaints to that CPU."

"Wow, Noire," I said.

"What?"

"It appears that goal has been burned into her brain. (•_•;)" Mini-Histoire commented.

Neptune ignored Mini-Histoire's comment. "Well, whatever!" She pumped her fist into the air and shouted, "Let's head to Lowee!"

"Loweeeee..."

"Ga-Thunk!" Just as we were about to head out of the Basilicom, the door suddenly swung open. And standing there was...

I slumped over. "Oh damnit. Not you again."

"I finally found you all!" Abnes jabbed a finger towards us.

Neptune also slumped over and frowned. "Oh great, it's the little girl again," Neptune sighed. "And just when we were getting ready to go."

"Don't call me a little girl, you little girl!" Abnes snapped back. "I know what you all did!"

"Huuh?" Plutia stared at us all. "Heey... Did we do something?"

I shrugged. "Besides talk, no."

"Yeah. Besides, you're not welcome here," Noire snapped back at Abnes. "Why are you even here?!"

"Because I know what you meddling baby kids have been doing!" Abnes gave us a cold glare.

"If anything, you and the Seven Sages are more of the meddling baby kids," I commented.

"Shut up!" Abnes jabbed her index finger at me. "You're probably the culprit!"

I let out a groan. "Culprit of what? Killing you're big, bad robot? Or is it because of what I used to do?" I suggested.

"No!" Abnes furiously shook her head. "I don't even know what you mean by 'used to do'! I'm talking about the bigger issue!"

"Could there really be something more devastating than my past?" I muttered.

"You and your little-girl CPU friends here are abducting kids, aren't you!?"

"Uggh..." I facepalmed.

"Yeah, she definitely wasn't worth our time," Noire stated.

"Girl, are you serious?"

"Umm..." Plutia tapped my shoulder. "What's she talking about?"

I sighed. "She's accusing us of kidnapping children," I explained.

"Whaaaaat!? We've been kidnapping kids!?" Plutia seemed convince that we had taken children.

Abnes pointed a finger of accusation towards Plutia. "Ha! An open confession! So you all DID steal the children!" She concluded.

"You can search the Basilicom if you would like, but you won't find anything, (-_-;)" Mini-Histoire stated.

"Huh?" Abnes seemed taken back by our responses. "B-But you are those dumb little-girl CPUs and you have that weird boy with you! Of course you all are the culprits!"

"I hadn't even heard of any kidnapping up till now," I stated.

Noire nodded. "Yeah, we hadn't even known about these kidnappings."

"B-But..." Abnes stammered.

"Yeah! So go cool off or something! Because we didn't do it, buster!" Neptune commanded. "For all we know, those Seven Sages could have been taking those children!"

"What!?" Abnes stepped back. "There's no way! If I had known that, I wouldn't be with them nor would I have let them!" Abnes stated.

I shrugged. "People only show what they want you to see. For all you know, they could be kidnapping children and selling the kids for money."

Abnes's body began to tremble and her eyes widened. "T-There's no way!" She gritted her teeth and growled. "Grr...This isn't over! I'll be back!"

"Ker-Thump!" The door closed behind Abnes.

I sighed. "I don't get why she has to shout out sound effects for doors' opening and closing," I thought aloud.

"Whatever, at least she's gone now," Noire said.

I nodded. "That's true. Her visits seem to get more and more annoying every time."

"Well, since that little girl is finally gone, how about we head for Lowee?" Neptune suggested.

"To Loweeee..." Plutia pumped her fist into the air.

I nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

As we walked out of the door, my mind had one thing bouncing around in it's head.

Why were children getting kidnapped?

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I'm sorry this chapter wasn't released on Friday. The reason being is because I was too busy with school and work. But I have a possible solution. I'm going to revert back to my old schedule(Tuesday,Wednesday and Thursday) except I won't even upload on Fridays. The reason being is because I want to get done with summer school and not get too stressed by writing. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	72. Chapter 72

Chapter 72

We were now on our way towards Lowee. The route we had decided to take was an underground cave past it's borders.

As we entered the cave, I asked, "Do you guys think that there will be a trap setup for us in Lowee?"

Noire cast me a puzzled expression. "It's a possibility, but they shouldn't be expecting us. Why would there be a trap?"

I shrugged. "Well, you said that Lowee and the Seven Sages had a connection, right?"

Noire nodded. "Yeah, what about it?"

"Going by that, we know that girl, Abnes, is a member," I explained. "And when she left earlier, Plutia shouted where we were going right after Abnes had left. So there's a possibility that Abnes could have heard it."

Noire frowned. "You're actually right. We should keep our guard up in Lowee," she agreed. "Especially with that CPU of Lowee."

Neptune spoke up. "But Noire, Blanc's not evil. She would never do something like scheme that factory attack or even work with those Sage guys. She's more of an independent woman," Neptune argued.

Independent is one way of putting it.

"Yeeaahhh... Blanny's not mean..." Plutia agreed.

Noire groaned before switching her attention over to Neptune and Plutia. "First of all, you're being too trustworthy, Neptune. Secondly, you have to remember that that was the Blanc from YOUR dimension not ours."

Neptune sighed. "But Noire, it just doesn't feel right."

Noire shrugged. "I'm just saying this to help you. You can't always be so trustworthy and friendly."

Suddenly, Neptune grinned. "But Noire, that advice is the reason why you have no friends!"

"Uhhh-huuuh..." Plutia agreed with Neptune once again.

"…!" Noire seemed to twitch for a second. "That's not true! Just make sure to keep your guard up the closer we get to Lowee, you two!"

"Yeah, yeah," Neptune replied.

* * *

A good half an hour of us walking had probably gone by. "Uuggh... This is so—Ah!"

I yanked Neptune into cover and put a hand over her mouth before anybody could notice her. "Sorry," I nudged my head towards where Neptune was about to walk into. "But there's a guard right there at Lowee's borders."

Noire nodded. She had yanked Plutia back. "Yeah, we're going to have to get past him."

We released our tight grips on Neptune and Plutia. "Why don't we just beat him up?" Neptune asked. "That makes for a great story scene!"

I sighed. "True, sure. But it'd be bad to bring attention to ourselves, especially since we just got to Lowee," I reminded Neptune. "So, we should probably try sneaking past him."

"Oh? How are we going to do it? Are we going to snakely sneak past him in a medical box?" Neptune curiously asked.

I chuckled. "Nope. Although that'd be fun, we're just going to run pass him when he's not paying attention."

Neptune nodded. "Gotcha coach."

Plutia tapped on Noire's shoulder. "Heeey, Noire," Plutia said in a hushed voice.

Taking her attention off the guard, Noire looked over at Plutia. "Hm? What is it?"

"Ummm... What happened to that one guard who worked for you? What's he doing nooow?" Plutia asked curiously.

Noire stared at Plutia with a mixture of confusion and blankness. She then shrugged. "Um, I don't know. I fired him right after that factory incident," she turned back to the guard. "Let's just worry about getting past this guard first," Noire advised.

"Ookaay..."

"Now! Run past him!" I commanded as the guard turned his back on us. I broke from my hiding position and sprinted past the guard.

"Hey! Wait for us!" Neptune called out as Noire followed suit. "Let's go, Plutie!" Neptune also broke from her hiding and sprinted past the guard.

"Heey! Wait for me, Neppy! I'm suuper slow..." Plutia called out as she slowly dragged her feet towards our direction.

But as Plutia ran, the guard turned back and roared his voice at her. "Hey! Halt this instance!"

"Just keep running!" Noire called back to Plutia.

"No! Stop right there! It's my job!" The guard demanded. Yeah, as if anyone would stop for that.

I turned my head back. "Seriously!?"

Plutia was standing still while the guard had his gun pointed towards her. "Plutia!? Why'd you stop!?"

"He said that was hisss job..." Plutia stated.

I groaned as Neptune and Noire passed me. But I dashed back towards Plutia. "Come on!" I grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her along with me out into Lowee.

"Hey! Stop this instance!" The guard called out.

But I didn't stop...

* * *

"We made it!" I shouted as Plutia and I emerged from the cave and into the nation of Lowee.

"Haaa...haaa...I've...never ran that fast before...in my life..." Plutia stated as she panted heavily.

"It's fine. We lost them," I looked up. "At least we made it to Lowee."

"Huuh?" Plutia looked up. "Wooow, so this is Lowee?"

"I guess so."

The pathway was made of a clean stone, the pathway edges were railed with red bridge railing that were lined with lanterns to keep people from falling into the water, most of the buildings were designed like Japanese temple towers with red shrine gates leading to them, there were red cherry blossom trees around and also a bit of snow. I guess this Lowee went for a Japanese theme.

"Wooow..." Plutia's amazed expression turned into a puzzled one. "Heey... Where's Neppy and Noire?"

"Huh?" I looked around. "I don't know."

"Those sillly girls... They must have gotten lost..." Plutia claimed.

I chuckled. "I think that we were just too slow."

"Maybe we should go find them..." Plutia suggested. "How about we go ask that lady?" Plutia pointed at a lady walking by. "Heeey! Lady!" She called out to the lady.

The lady turned to us. "Who? Me?"

"Yuup! You!" Plutia nodded.

The lady was probably the Vert of this dimension. Her eye color, hair color, physical physique and skin color all were the same as the Vert of our dimension. However, her attire seemed to be different.

She wore a shoulder-off spring green dress with black spiked ends and black lining. Her black choker had a green centerpiece and connected to a pair of thin paris green straps—which also seemed to act as a bra. She loosely wore a black belt that had two of the same green pieces her choker had. Finally, she wore a pair of black, multiple strapped high heels.

To me, it was pretty obvious it was Vert. But there could be a chance that this was a completely different person.

"Is it you're first time here too, lady?" Plutia asked the lady, who I was going to officially dub as Vert.

"U-Um, yes," Vert nodded timidly. "Is it yours as well?"

"Uh-huuuh..." Plutia nodded. "We lost our friends and we don't know where they are. Doo you know?" Plutia asked.

"I-I'm afraid not. But would you mind at least telling me their names and describing them?" Vert asked.

"Welll... Neppy and Noire are my friends. But now we lost them and can't find them..." Plutia explained.

What a vague description.

"Oh," Vert blinked into a blank expression. "Well then, who's that boy with you? Is he your boyfriend?" She asked.

Plutia looked up at me. "That's Silvy... And what's a boy fried?"

"N-Nevermind..." Vert shook her head. "Well, I hope you two find your friends. I'll be off no—"

Suddenly, Neptune's voice filled our ears. "HEY! IT'S VERT VERT VERT VERT!"

The three of us spun around to see Neptune and Noire approaching us. "We found them!" Noire dashed up towards us. "Geez, why'd you two have to get lost?"

Plutia scratched her head. "Ehehe... Sorry..."

Noire sighed before looking back at Neptune. "Do you know that lady, Neptune?"

Neptune nodded and pointed at Vert. "Yup! And so does Silver! That's Vert and she's Leanbox's CP—Mmgh!" Vert quickly put a hand over Neptune's mouth before she could finish speaking.

Neptune pried Vert's hand off of her. "Hey! Why'd you do that!?"

Vert simply smiled. "Sorry, there was something on your mouth, so I thought I'd get rid of it for you."

I let a chuckle escape from my mouth. "Sure, that's it."

Vert cast me a glare before returning to smiling innocently. "May I speak with you two in private, Neptune and Silver?" She asked in her politest tone.

"Huh? Why?" Neptune asked.

I shrugged. "Why can't we just talk right here, right now?" I questioned.

"Ow!"

"H-Hey! Don't pull on my ear!" Neptune pleaded as Vert dragged Neptune and I away from the others.

"This place should do," Vert muttered to herself as she dragged us into an alleyway. She let go of our ears and pushed us into the alley. "Now, how do you two know who I am?"

"Because we do, but we also don't," I replied.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Vert questioned.

"Oh yeah!" Neptune smacked her forehead. "We haven't met you here yet! Man, sorry."

"You two should be sorry! There's supposed to be suspense!" Vert complained. "You two aren't supposed to know about me yet! The ones reading this should be wondering as to who I am! They should simply not know!" She continued.

"What kind of ridiculous logic is that?" I asked.

"It doesn't matter," Vert answered. "Just try to keep my identity top secret. At least for now."

We sighed. "Fine..."

Vert smiled at our responses. "Great, now let us return to the others."

Upon walking back, we found Plutia in a discussion with Noire. "Buut Noire, dressing up dolls is waay more fun than dressing yourself up!"

"But if you dress yourself up, you get to see how you actually look like as compared to seeing something else dressed up," Noire argued.

"Booo... You're sooo weird, Noire..." Plutia stated.

She blushed a bit. "H-Hey!"

"Hey, Plutie! What're we egging Noire about?" Neptune asked as she ran up to Plutia.

"She said that playing dress up isn't as cool as wearing the clothes or something..."

I glanced over at Noire and mouthed to her what I thought she was talking about. Noire gave a small nod at my guess.

"Anyway, why don't we head for Lowee's Basilicom now?" I offered.

"Yeah," Noire gave a small nod.

"Yeah!" Neptune agreed.

"Yaaay!" Plutia joined her.

"Yay!" Vert also agreed.

"Huh?" The girls turned to Vert.

"Why did you agree with us? Are you coming with us?" Noire questioned.

"You never said that I couldn't," Vert stated. "Are you saying you don't want me to come with you guys?"

"No. I don't want somebody as strange as you coming along with—" Noire was cut off before she could finish speaking.

"Aw come on, Noire," Neptune pleaded. "It's Vert. Of course she can join," Neptune turned her head to me. "Right, Silver?"

I nodded. "Yeah, our Vert is pretty cool."

"Again, the one from YOUR dimension," Noire pointed out.

"I assure you, if I do anything suspicious, I shall leave immediately," Vert said.

"Yeah, don't be such a stiff toothpick, Noire," Neptune agreed. "Vert is Vert after all."

"Yeeah! Vert is Vert!" Plutia agreed.

I let a chuckle escape. "I'm starting to think that Neptune is a bad influence on Plutia," I muttered.

Noire sighed. "Fine, she can stay. But if she does anything suspicious, then it's over."

Vert smiled. "I promise I won't do anything bad," she pledged.

And with those final words, we returned to heading for Lowee's Basilicom...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here is another chapter. I decided that, once summer school ends, I'll make the upload schedule more compatible with my daily life. I'll try to do uploads on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and possibly Friday. If I'm too busy, the schedule will change to Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and maybe Friday. But if that doesn't work, I'll do Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. For now though, the upload schedule will be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. But that's all I really wanted to say today. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	73. Chapter 73

Chapter 73

We now stood in front of one of those temple towers. However, this one was the biggest one of them all and seemed to be the Basilicom. Even though the design was extremely similar to the other buildings, there were some differences.

Examining it from outside, the Basilicom's floors seemed to be bigger than the other buildings, every floor had multiple bridges leading to, what I assumed to be, the sentry towers and the rooms slowly seemed to get smaller the more floors you climbed. Although, the colors were the same as the other temple towers. The walls were painted white, there were red, linear-shaped aesthetics and the stone-tile roofing was an olive green color.

"So, this is the Basilicom, huh?" Neptune thought aloud.

Noire nodded. "Seems like it," she balled up a fist. "Now we just have to make it to the top so I can voice my complaints to that stupid CPU!"

We all turned to Noire. "Noire, promise me you won't engage in any combat unless necessary," I pleaded. "We're just here to voice complaints, okay?"

Noire smirked. "Oh, don't worry. I won't fight. I'll really 'voice' my complaints."

"Noire, that sounds pretty creepy coming from you," Neptune stated. "It's probably Sadie level creepy."

"Heeey..." Plutia whined. "I'm not thaatt scarrry...!"

Noire, Neptune and I turned to Plutia. "Yes, you are," we chorused.

"Booo... You're all sooo mean..." Plutia puffed out her cheeks.

I patted her head. "It's alright, Plutia. We still like you," I reassured her.

A faint blush entered Plutia's cheek and she let out a giggle. "Ehehe... Silvy's petting me again..."

I sighed. "Yes, yes. Giggle, blush, whatever. As long as you're happy and not an angry Plutia."

Vert just stared at us, puzzled. "Um, what's so bad about that girl? She seems pretty normal to me."

A shiver entered Neptune and Noire's spine. "Y-you don't want to know," I said. "Anyway, let's just get this over with and see Lowee's CPU."

The girls nodded. "Do you think the Basilicom will be heavily guarded?" Noire asked.

Neptune scoffed at Noire. "Silly Noire! You're overthinking this. It's a Basilicom, why would it be guarded? It'll probably be like every other Basilicom; full of adult staff members mindlessly filling out paperwork or whatever."

Vert nodded. "I agree. Their defensive measures don't appear to be too big of a threat. In fact, I don't think I see any signs of defense."

I let out a chuckle. "Haven't you two of the saying 'Seeing isn't believing. Believing is seeing?'"

Noire nodded. "Yeah, this is the first CPU we're talking about. She could have possibly put in defensive measures a long time ago."

Vert shrugged. "Perhaps you two are right."

Neptune seemed to shrug it off. "Well, we won't know unless we actually go in. So, let's go!"

*Bam!*

Neptune kicked the door open. "Uh-oh."

The first thing we were greeted by, was the sight of machine gun turrets. The turrets lined both sides of the room. Open detecting us, they all turned to us.

"Shit."

"EVERYBODY TAKE COVER!"

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Ping!* *Ting!* *Bink!* *Tink!*

We all took cover back behind the doors of the Basilicom. However, there wasn't much protection being provided considering one side of the door was made of rice paper. So, bullets were tearing through the paper and skidding past us.

"See, Neptune!? I told you I was right!" I shouted over at her over the sound of the bullets. "This is why you're supposed to take precautions! Not just walk in without a care!"

"Whatever! Let's just take out the turrets!" Neptune shouted back.

I nodded. We had to hurry and take out the turrets because the paper rice was slowing deteriorating. "Noire, Plutia!" I shouted over to them. "Distract the left half of the turrets for me!"

"Right!"

"Roooger!"

I switched my attention to Vert and Neptune. "You two distract the turrets on the right side!"

"Alrighty!"

"Understood!"

"Wait!" Noire shouted. "Silver, what will you be doing?!"

I sneered and activated Level One. "While you guys are distracting the turrets, I'll destroy them!"

"Alright!"

We reemerged from what little hiding we had and charged at the turrets.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!* *Clang!* *Clink!* *Tink!* Pink!* *Dink!* *Ping!* *Crash!* *Boom!* *Boom!*

The girls rushed the turrets from both sides. They deflected the oncoming bullets and slowly advanced on the turrets while I slowed down time and rushed at the turrets as the bullets whizzed past me.

I leapt at a turret and slammed down at it's head, smashing it into tiny pieces. Turning back around, a barrage of missiles and bullets flew towards me. Using my Devils' energy, I formed a barrier in front of me, shielding me from the bullets and explosions. As the debris cleared, I rushed at the turrets who had fired at me. Stepping forward, I thrusted my blade into the closest turret and, pulling the blade out of the turret, I stabbed at the turret behind me. I pulled the blade from the turret and jumped away.

Time resumed and several turrets blew up, the smell of ashes, smoke and gunpowder entered my nose. As the last few turrets on the left focused their aim on me, I formed a sphere of energy and pulsed it at the last remaining turrets. The ball sprang to the group of turrets and, upon contact, blew up in a bright explosion, scattering more debris everywhere.

I released a sigh. "The left has been cleared," I stated. I turned to the other girls on the right side. "Hey! Back away! Right now!"

Vert, Neptune, Noire and Plutia all jumped as far away from the right side full of turrets. All the remaining turrets focused their aim on me.

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Boom!* *Plink!* *Dink!* Ping!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Crash! *Crash!*

As the turrets began spraying me with their bullets and some shot missiles at me, I slowed down time and cast another barrier around me. The explosions and bullets were all repelled by the barrier, leaving ripples on the barrier. As the missiles blew up and the bullets bounced off the barrier, debris and smoke formed. Since the turrets couldn't get a clear aim on me in the smoke, I used the opportunity to my advantage.

I formed several spears made from my Devils' energy. Th spears floated in the air and loomed over my head. Once the smoke cleared and the turrets returned their aim to me, I motioned the spears to strike the turrets. The spears sped towards each turret and slammed down on them, smashing them to scraps of metal, screws and gears.

I resumed time and deactivated my Devils' powers. Releasing a sigh, I turned to the girls, sweat trickling down their foreheads. "Turrets have been cleared, girls," I stated.

"Yaaay!" Plutia was the first one to speak up. "Silvy destroyed all the bad things!"

I smiled before turning over to Neptune. "Hey, guess who was right?"

Neptune puffed out her cheeks and cast me an annoyed expression. "Shut up..."

I let out a chuckle and patted Neptune's head. "Sorry, I just wanted to say it," I apologized. "But that just proves that we should keep our guard up and be more careful."

The girls nodded. "Yeah, I guess Lowee was prepared for us," Noire agreed.

"How about we take turns checking the next floors?" I suggested. "That way we can make sure how bad the danger is on the floor."

The girls nodded. "That isn't a bad idea," Vert commented. "But who's going to check the next floor?"

I shrugged. "Well, since Neptune technically already checked this floor, one of us will have to do it."

"Yeah, but who?" Noire asked. "How will we decided?"

I thought for a moment, then shrugged. "How about we just play Rock-Paper-Scissors to see who checks in which order?"

Vert and Noire stared at me with disbelief. "That is the most childish thing I've heard you say," Noire commented.

"Well, how else are we going to do it?" I asked. "Lightens the mood anyways."

"He does have a point," Vert pointed out.

Noire let out a sigh. "Fine. But how will we do it?"

"Well, I'll check the next floor just to save some time," I explained. "But basically, we'll go in order of who loses first. So if Vert were to lose first, then she would be the first of you three to check."

The girls nodded. "Okay. But what happens if we've all checked and there are still more floors?" Vert asked.

"Then we'll just go in the order we created, over and over again, until we reach Lowee's CPU."

The girls nodded. "I see..."

"Well, you guys rock your papers to your scissors' content," I sat down beside Neptune. "We're just going to wait for you all to finish before continuing going up."

"Whatever," Noire muttered.

* * *

"Heeey, Silvy?" Plutia tapped on my shoulder as we climbed a flight of stairs to the next floor.

I turned my head back to her. "Yeah, Plutia?"

"If I win, then what's my prizzee?" Plutia asked curiously.

"I don't know," I thought for a moment. "Um, how about the satisfaction of winning and a pat on the head?" I suggested.

"Realllly?" Plutia's eyes lit up. "Yaaay!"

Plutia, Noire and Vert had played their game of Rock-Paper-Scissors earlier. Noire had lost first, then Vert and Plutia won, meaning she would go last.

We approached a sliding door and I quickly turned around and patted Plutia's head. "There, happy?"

Plutia beamed a bright smile. "Yuup!"

"Then I'll check the next floor," I whispered as the girls backed a few inches away from me. I sucked in a deep breath and activated my body to act at seventy percent. I then slid the door wide open. "…!"

*Ping!* *Clang!* *Tink!* *Bink!* *Shk!* *Swk!*

Hearing the door slide open, two guards turned towards me and began firing their weapons at me. As bullets were sprayed in my general direction, I deflected them all as fast as I could and waited for an opening to strike the two guards. As their magazines emptied, I dashed in between them and swiftly drew a wide circle around their heads with my blade, severing both their heads instantly, the odor of blood beginning to fill the room.

As the heads fell to the floor and the cold, sticky blood touched my face, I switched my body to act at twenty percent again and scanned the area around, the golden tint covering my left eye's vision. "Not much, huh?" I wiped the blood from my blade and face with my sleeve. "That's weird. Shouldn't there be more guards here?"

Deciding to not ponder this, I quit the scan and called back to the girls. "You girls can come out now! This floor has been cleared!" I shouted at door. "Just don't—"

But I didn't get to finish my warning. "Ah!"

"Sweet cripes!"

"Ahhhh!"

"Oh my."

"—look at the bodies on the floor," I finished. "Well, it's too late now."

"Are you seriously finished with this floor already?" Noire asked, ignoring the two headless guards lying on the floor. "You don't seem that bloody or tired or injured."

I nodded. "Yeah, I know. It's just that, for some reason, these two guards were the only ones on this floor."

Vert nodded at my statement. "That really is quite peculiar..."

"Yeah, what makes it even weirder is that this floor is way bigger than the last," I remarked.

While the last floor had been just one room, this floor seemed like an entire living area itself. There were multiple rooms on this floor, all of which had a sliding door leading out into the courtyard of this floor. All these rooms were pretty basic too. They all had tatami mats with a rusted yellow color and walls with watercolor paintings on them.

The courtyard seemed pretty simple too. The rooms lead out to flooring of polished mahogany wood, lined by glowing neon blue lights and edged by red railing once again. About three feet below the mahogany wood was an area covered by, what seemed to be, silver sand. Although there were stairs leading down to the sand, there were also bridges over the sand to allow access to the other side of the courtyard. Also, the roofing over the rooms and bridges were similar to before; stone-tiled but with a sea blue color.

"Well, that just means less work to deal with!" Neptune commented. "Come on! Let's hurry to the next floor! The princess isn't in this castle anyways!"

"Right."

* * *

"Wow, that actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," I commented as we reached the top of the final staircase.

"Yeah, there wasn't a single guard anywhere," Neptune said. "Maybe they got scared of you, Devil boy!" Neptune grinned at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Please. If I wanted to, I could kill them all before they could even notice me or cry wolf."

Noire shuddered. "Please stop. You're starting to sound like Plutia's HDD self."

I let out a chuckle. "If you want that, just have a conversation with my two Devils when they're running wild. Trying to convince them to stop is like talking to a brick wall."

There had only been three more floors before we had reached the top floor. But there wasn't a single sign of life on any of those floors. It was as if they had simply disappeared.

"Heey... Hurry up and open the door! I want to see Blanny again..." Plutia whined.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm opening the door," I reassured Plutia as I slid the door open. "Hm?"

In front of us was a hallway with three sliding doors. There was one on the left, one on the right and a pair of sliding doors dead ahead of us. "Hey, Neptune," I turned back to Neptune. "Which door do you want to go through?" I asked.

She popped her head over my shoulder and let out a chuckle. "Well, considering in every game that the main character always goes down the long, scary corridor to the room at the end, let's choose the middle door."

I shrugged as the five of us approached the middle door. "Middle door it is," I muttered as I kicked the doors wide open.

*Bam!*

The doors burst open and the sight of the room came into view. But I didn't really care how the room looked. Because, sitting on a cushion on the tatami floors, was Blanc.

"Well, it's been awhile, hasn't it, CPUs?"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Sorry for the late upload. Work and school got to me again. But, on the bright side, there are only two more weeks of summer school left after this week. So there SHOULD be more chapters coming out when I get out of summer school. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	74. Chapter 74

Chapter 74

"Hey, lookie! It's Blanc!" Neptune pointed a finger at Blanc.

"Yeah, and she must have really been waiting for us," Noire stated. "She's just sitting there!"

"Yeah, you're right," I concurred. "She even in her HDD form."

Blanc stood up from the cushion she had been sitting on. "It's about time you all showed up," she materialized her axe. "Now I can finally end you all here and now!"

Neptune flailed her arms. "Wait, please change back to your regular Kuudere self Blanc! It's easier to talk to you like that!"

Blanc cast a cold glare at Neptune. "Shut the hell up! How would you know me!?"

Neptune gasped before facepalming. "Oh yeah! That's right! I haven't officially met you here either!" Neptune released a sigh. "Man, this is getting too confuzzling."

"Wait," Vert shot Neptune a glance. "Didn't you say something similar to me before?"

"Yeah, sorry," Neptune scratched her head. "It's just so confusing with this other version thing."

"Hey!" Blanc shouted over them. "Are you done spouting nonsense yet!?"

"Yeah," Noire joined Blanc. "I have a list of complaints to address!"

"Well, sorry! I just wanted to throw in some jokes and stuff!" Neptune responded.

"Neppy, you ARE a living joke!" Plutia stated as she smiled brightly at Neptune.

I let out a sigh. "Come on, girlies. It's time to get serious," I said as I nudged both Neptune and Plutia's shoulders.

"Fine, fine, pops."

"Okaaaay..." The girls nodded their heads.

I smiled. "Good," I switched my attention back to Blanc. "You know, Hikan probably would beat the shit out of me if he found out I did this, but..." I activated Level Two and activated my body to act at eighty-five percent. "I'm going to have to beat you down, Blanc."

"Bring it!" She tightened the grip on her axe. "I'll take you all out right here and prove to Gamindustri that I'm the only damn CPU they need!"

"Okay," Noire smirked. "If it's a fight you want, then..."

*Ching!*

Noire went HDD, turning into Black Heart. "Then I'll give you a fight. This way, I can prove to you that times have changed and that the newer, better generation is taking over!"

"Shut up, you damn newbie!" Blanc retorted. "You don't know how painful it was to protect this nation on my own and I won't have you strip this nation away from me!"

"Alright then," Noire looked over at Plutia. "Plutia! Transform right now!"

Neptune and I turned back to Noire. "What did you just say!?"

"You two heard me," Noire said. "Now, transform Plutia!"

"Wait, don't—"

"Ga-thunk!" This time, I was interrupted by the sound of a nonexistent door opening. For once, I'm glad Abnes showed up.

"Oh great. It's that preschooler girl again," Neptune said as she slumped over.

"Shut up!" Abnes shouted back at Neptune as Warechu waddled in—holding a camcorder—behind Abnes.

"Why is she here?" I asked.

"I decided it'd be a good idea to broadcast me beating your asses in front of the world," Blanc explained.

"Hey! Hold that camera up!" Abnes shouted at Warechu.

"Shut up you dumb, little broad!" Warechu snapped back. "I have stubby arms! Okay, got it." Warechu held the camera up. "And we're live!"

Suddenly, the air around Abnes changed. Her grumpy mood switched to a cheerful expression as she faced the camera. "Heya, Gamindustri! It's your adorable and charming spokesperson, Abnes from the Seven Sages!"

Man, this facade makes me want to barf.

"The reason for this sudden broadcast is because the CPUs and some boy are about to have an all-out brawl!"

"You know, I don't appreciate being called 'some boy,'" I muttered.

The camera turned towards us. I gave a small smiled and waved at the camera. "Never thought that this would be how I'd appear on TV," I commented.

"Wait, we're live!? Ahhh! How's my hair?! Somebody bring me a mirror!" While I was remaining composed, a certain Noire was panicking about publicity.

I sighed. "Noire, you look fine, don't worry."

A slight blush entered her cheeks. "R-Really?"

I nodded "Positive."

"We're on camera?" Neptune gasped. "Do you think Mini-Histy can see me?" She waved at the camera. "Hey Mini-Histy!"

Plutia put her face right in front of the camera and tapped on the lens. "Isss this thing on?"

Vert frowned. "If there's a camera, and the whole of Gamindustri is watching, then I don't think I can stick around. Excuse me," Vert waved us a quick goodbye and dashed out of the room. Now that's one less party member.

"Hey! Get your hands off the camera, chu!" Warechu snarled at Plutia.

"Hey! Get your face out of the camera so that we can hurry and start the fighting!" Abnes shouted at Plutia.

I dragged Plutia away from the camera and we returned to our previous conversation. "Noire, I really don't think that we should let Plutia transform," I said. "We're now even on live TV. Imagine what would happen if they saw what she would do to her victims."

"Yeah, we don't need all those protective people like PETA to come after us," Neptune agreed.

"Damnit, you're right," Noire scratched at her cheek.

"Um, sooo can I transform or not?" Plutia asked.

"Hey! Hurry up and decide! We're wasting time here!" Blanc demanded.

"Sorry, we're just trying to decide our game plan," Neptune apologized. "Just give us a bit more time, alright?"

"Fine, whatever," Blanc grumbled.

"If we sick Sadie on Blanc, it'll scar the kids," Neptune protested, returning to the argument.

"I waaant to transform...!" Plutia continued to whine.

"We need her power!" Noire responded. "Hm..." Noire's eyes widened. "Wait, that's it!"

"Huh? What's with the huge eyes Noire?" Neptune asked.

She whirled her head towards Plutia. "Plutia! Transform right now!"

"Reeallly...?"

Neptune and I dropped our jaws at Noire's words. "Noire, have you finally lost your mind?!"

"No, it's fine. Just transform Plutia!" Noire continued shouting, ignoring our words.

"Alrightyyy..."

*Ching!*

White light enveloped Plutia and she turned into Iris Heart. "Fufufu... Oh, it'll be so fun to punish my little Blanny considering she seems to be quiet a masochist. You know, we could make a great couple, Blanny..."

Neptune and I released sighs. "Well, since they already transformed, we might as well join the fight," Neptune resolved.

I nodded. "Ditto."

*Ching!*

Neptune went HDD, turning into Purple Heart. "I swear, we always get dragged into this," Neptune released a sigh. "Noire, if we get any complaints, then we're sending them straight to your Basilicom."

"It's not my problem if you lose shares," Noire stated. "Besides, why should I take your complaints?"

"Ah ha! So that was your plan!"

"Hey! Are you dumbasses ready to fight yet, or do you want me to get the first hit?" Blanc piped up.

We all spun back to Blanc, who had been patiently waiting on us. "Sorry, but thanks for being kind of enough to wait on us," Noire complimented.

Blanc simply smirked. "It doesn't matter anyways. You all will be back to being low-class scum once I beat you all into submission!"

"Well, I guess we really do have to fight," I muttered as we all took out our weapons. "Hope Hikan doesn't find out about this."

"Sorry for the delay everybody!" Abnes apologized towards the camera. "But now the fight's about to begin! Don't change the channel because you won't want to miss this!"

Geez, I cringe at the way people switch their acting just to get something.

*Bang!*

"…!"

*CLANG!*

Blanc rushed at me and I quickly raised my blade to block her strike. She slammed her axe down on my blade. The force of impact dug my feet into the floor, ripping some tatami mats, As she pressed her blade against mine, I pushed closer to her and kicked her in the gut.

"Got you!"

"Ngh!"

*Bang!* *Clang!* *Thud!*

While Blanc recovered her footing, Noire zoomed in from behind Blanc and slashed at Blanc. Ducking to the floor, Blanc sweeped at Noire's feet. Noire performed a small hop over Blanc's feet, but Blanc reached and caught her feet. Using all her strength, Blanc threw Noire towards a wall, causing her to crash into the wall.

*Bang!* *Bam!* *Clang!* *Thud!* *Crash!*

Plutia and Neptune came from both sides of Blanc and thrusted their weapons at her. Leaping into the air, Blanc avoided the two blades. The blades' target had been switched to the other wielder right in front of them.

As the two girls jerked their blades back, Blanc swung her axe down in a three sixty degree spin. The Planeptune Goddesses raised their blades to block it, but were knocked back by the tremendous force Blanc put into the axe. As the axe made contact with the blades, Plutia stumbled to the floor while Neptune was blown away into a wall, smashing the wall and creating a bit of debris.

*Bang!* *Clang!* *Crash!* *Crack!* *Thud!* *Thud!*

As Blanc rushed at Neptune, I quickly swooped in and, boosting my speed, swung at Blanc's axe. The swing made contact with her weapon and knocked it away from her grasp, implanting itself into another wall. While Blanc was in her state of shock, I slashed my blade down on her. She stepped back, receiving a small tear through her attire and forming a small blood stain. Retracting my blade, Blanc swung her leg at my blade and also knocked it away, impaling the blade into the tatami mats.

Since we were both without weapons, Blanc and I rushed at each other and threw a punch at each other. Upon both of us landing a hard, solid blow on the other's jaw, the force sent us both flying and crashing into a wall.

"Gh!" I fell from the wall and crashed to the floor. "Damn, she's strong."

As my Devils worked on healing my body, I pushed myself back to my feet and materialized a blade made of my Devils' energy. The girls regrouped with me as Blanc also got back to her feet and materialized another axe.

"Haaa...haaa...haaa..." Blanc wiped the smear of blood away from the bottom of her lip. "Damn. What are you!?"

I forced a smile. "I'm a Spawn and I won't lose!" Although I didn't plan to lose, my body was burning with pain from the force of the wall and my jaw was throbbing with pain. I'm just glad that I can heal this pain quickly.

I spit the blood out of my mouth. "Hey, girls. I got a question," I said.

The girls turned to me. "What kind of question could you possibly have at a time like this!?" Noire asked.

"Well, I'm just wondering why we all aren't attacking together," I stated. "We're just working in either pairs or independently."

The girls thought for a moment. "That's true," Neptune agreed. "We should be working together."

Plutia formed a wide grin. "Yes, we should. That way, we can deliver a punishment together and make it even more painful."

Noire nodded. "Yeah, let's do it."

I nodded and got in a stance. "Ready?"

The girls nodded.

Blanc tightened the grip on her axe. "No matter how much you assbags attack me, I won't lose!"

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *CLANG!* *PANG!* *BAM!* *SHK!* *SHWING!* *BOOM!* *CRASH!* *CRACK!* *THUD!*

The four of us rushed at Blanc and she also rushed at us.

Upon the four of us getting a few feet away from Blanc, I slowed down time while the girls increased their speeds and quickly switched to attacking her on all four sides. The three girls swung their blades at Blanc as I leaped into the air and I brought my blade down onto her. Before our blades made contact with her, she quickly grabbed Noire's wrist and whirled her around, slamming into the other girls. The girls were knocked to the ground as Blanc threw Noire up at me.

I dodged the incoming Noire and kicked at Blanc. Blanc caught my foot and threw me towards Neptune, who was rushing at Blanc. Neptune had to stop and step aside to dodge me as I caught myself on the mats and bounced back to my feet. But this let Blanc have an opening on Neptune. Blanc rushed towards Neptune and slammed her axe down on her. Neptune blocked the oncoming strike and pushed against Blanc's axe. As the two weapons grinded and pushed against each other, Noire, Plutia and I all rushed at Blanc.

Noticing our oncoming, Blanc kicked Neptune away and threw her axe at me. I jumped over it and we all lunged at Blanc. She lunged at me and threw a punch towards me, however I caught her wrist. Before she could kick at any of us, Plutia and Noire tackled and pinned her to the floor.

I quickly formed a sphere of energy and thrusted the ball into Blanc's gut. Upon contact, Plutia and Noire jumped away while the force and power of the energy drilled into Blanc's gut, tearing her outfit to shreds, further drilling her into the floor and knocking me away, skidding along the mats.

*Ching!*

As the girls helped me to my feet and my injuries recovered, Blanc reverted back to her normal form. Her normal form wasn't too different from the Blanc of our dimension. While her physical appearance remained the same, beside the bruises, Blanc's attire changed.

Her secondary color seemed to be red and her winter-styled outfit had changed. Her cap still was in the same shape—with the same emblem—but the colors were now white and red instead of white and blue. She wore a black tank-top-like piece and a long red skirt—with a cherry tree leaf design—held up by a pair of red strings that tied together at the top's center where there was a blue, jeweled button. She also wore a white, cut-off short jacket with red lining and baggy sleeves. Down past her skirt, Blanc wore a pair of thigh-high white stockings and a pair of black, wooden sandals with a big red bow on each one. Also, she wore a bracelet with large black and white beads and she had a golden flower accessory at her neck that was held up by a black string.

"We...did it..." I announced as I finished recovering my breath and healing my wounds.

"T-That's Blanc for you," Neptune said. "She fought hard and strong against the four of us for so long."

I nodded. "Yeah."

"See that!" Abnes shouted at the camera. "Lowee's CPU just lost! Hear that, you Loweeans? Your CPU is a failure!"

Blanc, who had been laying flat on the mats, raised her head. "I-I...lost?"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And here's another chapter for you all. I made this chapter longer than I wanted it to be because of Blanc's fight scene. But there will be a fight scene in the next chapter anyways, so the next chapter may or may not be longer than usual. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	75. Chapter 75

Chapter 75

"I-I...lost?" Blanc repeated the words, drained of her spirit. She looked down at herself. "I reverted back? M-My...shares..." Blanc crumpled to the ground. "I...can't feel any of my Shares..."

The camera focused on Blanc. "See that, Gamindustri? Lowee's CPU is just some dumb girlie!" Abnes stated. "Well, since you now all probably realize that this CPU is a terrible one, this will end this broadcast, proudly brought to you by the Seven Sage's lovely and adorable Abnes! Until next time!"

Warechu cut the camera off and set it aside. "Whew, it's finally over, chu."

"Yeah, now I don't have to use that stupid personality," Abnes muttered. "But at least we managed to film this embarrassment of a CPU!"

"Blanc..." Neptune cast a sympathetic look at Blanc.

"Come on, you're not allowed to deliver a punishment before me," Plutia whined.

"Even though I don't like her, I wouldn't do something as cruel as this," Noire said.

"…" I gritted my teeth and glared at Abnes, letting the Devils' energy seep out of me.

Upon meeting my eyes, Abnes's body began to tremble and her eyes only showed pure fear. "W-What the?!"

I slowly began to approach her. "You can claim that we've taken kids, blackmail us and even accuse others..." I snarled. "But if you ever harm one of my friends..."

I quickly sped up to her and held my blade at her throat.

"Eek!" Abnes began to shake violently, her eyes only showed terror.

"If you ever harm one of my friends or anyone I care about, then I'll murder you in cold blood," I threatened.

"…..." Tears began to form at the corner of Abnes's eyelids.

*Thud!*

I pushed her against a wall and walked over towards Blanc. I extended a hand down to her. "Hey, are you alright Blanc?"

She glanced up at me, tears were streaming down her face and her eyes were red and puffy. "W-Why...*sniff*….. Why are you...*hic*…...helping me? I-I thought...*sniff*…..that we were enemies."

I smiled at her and, kneeling down beside her, formed a sphere filled with energy. "Because, even if you don't know it, you're important to me and I won't let you be bullied by scum like them," I answered as I sunk the ball of energy into Blanc.

"Now, give me a second and—"

*Bam!* *Thump!* *Thump!* *Thump!*

Before I could heal Blanc's injuries, a bunch of Lowee guards stormed into the room. The number seemed to be around the amount of a small army.

"CPUs and company, raise your hands right now and allow us to capture you!" The commanding guard ordered.

"Hey, why are we being arrested?" I asked.

Before the commanding guard could answer, a pathway was cleared for an old-looking businessman to walk through.

The businessman had silver hair, a pair of thin glasses that covered his eyes and a chubby build. His hair was combed back, he had a few wrinkles and, not trying to sound rude, a double chin.

His outfit consisted of a top with a black, pinstriped suit jacket. Tucked underneath the suit jacket, there was a navy blue, long sleeve button up shirt and a blue and black, polka dotted tie. He wore a pair of black, pinstriped dress pants and a pair of black dress shoes. The only reason I called him a businessman was because he wore the suit.

"Lady Blanc, are you alright?" The man asked, pushing past me.

Blanc quietly shook her head. "I-I lost all my shares. W-What...*sniff*…. What should I do?"

The man clamped a hand on Blanc's small shoulder. "It'll be alright, I can take over. I'll fill in for you and command Lowee," suddenly, a devilish grin crossed his face. "Just leave EVERYTHING to me," he turned to the guards. "Guards! Put these CPUs and this boy in a prison with no possible escape route!"

The guards obediently abided and cuffed all of us, including Blanc.

Blanc whirled her head back to the businessman. "M-Minister?"

The man, who I assumed was Blanc's minister, let out a chuckle. "Minister? How foolish you are!" The man said. "No, I am Mister Badd of the Seven Sages!"

His text box displaying his name appeared. This one had a blue, digital theme.

"S-Seven Sages?!" Blanc's eyes widened in shock.

"Wow, I can't believe she was stupid enough to unknowingly hire a member of the Seven Sages as her advisor," Noire commented. "No wonder it was so easy for this minister to take control of these guards."

"…" Blanc dropped her head.

"It'd probably be a bad idea to fight back in our current state," Neptune said. "Fighting Blanc tired us out way too much and it'd make it extremely hard to fight back against all these guards."

"Yeah, probably," Noire agreed.

"Although I would like to watch everyone of these men pleading, I think it'd take too much time to get to the fun part," Plutia somewhat agreed.

"Guards, take them away," Mr. Badd commanded.

"Sir!" The guards saluted before they started leading Neptune, Noire and Plutia out of the room.

"Well, I'm leaving," Abnes said. "I don't like being here anyways. Seeya."

"Wait for me!" Warechu called after her.

Mr. Badd stepped in front of Warechu. "Not yet, I have one more thing for you to do. You're going to help me broadcast my new rule over Lowee."

Warechu slumped over as Mr. Badd escorted him out of the room. "Make sure to get all of them in the prison," Mr. Badd reminded the guards. "If I find out that a single one of you has let them escape or couldn't capture them, you'll all be dead. Also, DON'T KILL THEM."

The guards could only nod as Mr. Badd and Warechu exited the room.

"Come on, let's—Gh!"

*Crack!* *Thud!* *Clang!* *Crack!* *Crash!*

As a guard came up from behind me, I smashed my head back into his, sending him tumbling to the ground. I then snapped my hands from the steel cuffs and threw a punch at the guard near Blanc. The force cracked his jaw and sent him crashing into a wall. Man, how many walls have been injured today?

I then stepped in front of Blanc, allowing me to shield her and face all the guards. "If you bitches want to get to her, you're going to have to get past me!" I shouted.

The guards all turned to each other before bursting out in a roaring laughter. "HAHAHA! Really, you think that you, one boy, could take out an army of us?!" The commanding guard continued to laugh like a mad man. "You really are the stupidest person I've ever met!"

I smirked. "You wanna bet?"

The commander guard released a chuckle. "You know what kid, you caught me in a good mood, so I'll humor you. Besides, you won't be able to take us all out anyways."

"That's what you think," I said. I turned back to Blanc. "Hey, stay here, alright?"

"Does it look like I have anywhere else to go?" She retorted.

I shrugged. "True."

I focused my attention on the guards and let my vision become enveloped by the fiery light. "You guys ready for a bad time?"

* * *

 **Third Person POV**

The guards watched in awe as Silver became consumed in a fiery light. They watched as more and more light crawled up his body until a fiery aura consumed Silver.

Silver felt the rush of power, the rush of hatred, the rush of evil all slowly rise up inside of him and flow through his body. A feeling of pain stabbed at his pressure points as his mind slowly began to blank out and his form began to change.

"W-What...are you?" Blanc asked.

 **"Me?"** Silver asked. **"I'm a Devil!"**

Silver, whose consciousness was now consumed by his two Devils, cocked his head at the guards and grinned. **"It looks like there's a fresh herd of sheep for me to slaughter,"** Silver licked his lips. **"I'll make sure to enjoy every second of it..."**

The guards now stood there, shaking in their boots. "S-So what!? Y-You changed forms...t-that's all!"

 **"Oh?"** Silver faced the commanding guard. **"Believe me, you wish that was all that had changed."**

Silver gleamed his blood red eyes at the commanding guard.

The guard stood petrified after making eye contact with Silver. Because he had looked into his eyes, Silver's form had been replaced with the form of a Devil. The more he gazed at the Devil in front of him, the more realistic and terrifying it seemed to become. "Y-You're...You're..."

Silver laughed maniacally. **"Hahaha! That's right! Do you know who I am now?"**

The other guards observed the commanding guards terrified expression. "Sir, what's wrong?"

"R-Run..." The commanding guard forced the words out of his quivering lips.

"What do you mean, sir?" A fellow guard asked. "He's just one boy. What's so bad about him?"

"D-Don't...look into his...e-eyes..." The commander warned. "I-If you do...y-you'll...know why..."

"Huh?" The guard, out of curiosity, gazed into Silver's eyes. "A-Ah..."

He was met with the same image as his commander. The Devil slowly began to take shape and seemed to stare right into the guard's soul with it's piercing crimson eyes.

"A-Ah..." The guards eyes bulged into terror and he stumbled to the floor. He quickly scrambled to his feet and ran from the room. "Ahhh!"

 **"Where the hell do you think you're going?! We haven't even gotten to the good part yet!"** Silver said.

"Ahhh—Urk!"

*Shk!*

Before the guard could climb down the stairs of the top floor, Silver appeared right in front of him, the face of the Devil staring right at him. Before the other guards noticed Silver gone from the area he had been standing at, Silver froze time and quickly slashed down at the guard. The guard was cut cleanly in half and his corpse fell to the floor.

As time resumed, the guards whirled their heads around and noticed the cut-in-half corpse laying at Silver's feet. "T-The hell...?"

Silver licked at the blood at the tip of his blade. **"Although his blood does taste good, it won't be enough to satisfy me."**

"Hey! Who the hell are yo—"

Before the guard could finish asking his question, he—along with all the other guards—gazed into Silver's eyes, replacing Silver's face with the Devil's face. **"What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"**

The guards' bodies shook violently. "H-Hey! Hurry up and capture the CPU!" The commander demanded with his trembling voice.

The guards forced their shaking legs to move and began to swarm Blanc.

Silver frowned at this. **"Are you really trying to piss me off?"**

*Sk!* *Shk!* *Crk!* *Crunch!* *Slash!* *Slice!* *Shwing!* *Shk! Shk! Shk!*

Time stood still once again. The guards were stopped in place, some a few feet away from Blanc. Silver dashed towards them and impaled two guards from behind with his blade, blood beginning to leak from their abdomen. He whirled around and his energy began to emit, forming into a flaming red hand. The hand snatched up several nearby guards and squeezed. The sound of crushing bones filled the quiet, echoey paused time. Their bodies began to jut out in multiple areas and blood trickled from their open injuries. The hand tossed them aside before disappearing.

Silver then materialized a blade of energy. Now holding two blades, he slashed at a wave of frozen guards. Two slash wave of energy spewed from the blades, forming a cross pattern and slicing all the guards in the wave's way. Their corpses fell to the floor and blood splattered everywhere.

Finally, he stepped up to the commanding guards and jabbed his hand into the guard's thorax, reaching for his heart. After churning and clawing through cold blood and flesh, Silver found the heart and pulled it out. Like everything else, the heart was also frozen. Using all his strength, Silver crushed the heart, splattering more blood all over him.

Time resumed.

"Ahhh!"

"Gah!"

"Hrk!"

"Ah..."

"Grahh!"

The sound of painful cries filled the room. Silver, who was savoring the sounds of their cries, simply stood in front of Blanc and looked out towards the injured guards and the corpses that lay on the mats.. **"I hope you've learned your lesson about pissing me off. Because, if you touch this girl, you'll all meet the same exact fate as her."**

The remaining guards all began to kneel at Silver's feet. "P-Please don't kill us!" The guards all pleaded. "W-We'll do anything you want us to do!"

Silver grinned. **"Well, there IS one thing."**

Cold sweat trickled down the guards' faces. "A-Anything you wish, my lord!"

 **"I want you all to—Gh!"** Silver crumpled to his knees and held his hands to his head. For some reason, a throbbing, searing pain filled his head. **"What the hell is this?!"**

But, instead of receiving silence, Silver received an answer. _"Did you really forget about me?"_ The voice of the Darkness echoed in his head.

 **"Damn you! Not now!"** Silver snarled as the pain's intensity was turned up.

The guards' expressions of fear switched to confusion. "W-What the?"

However, one guard took the opportunity. "ATTACK!"

*Shk!* *Bang!* *Slice!* *Sk!* *Crash!* *Boom!*

The guards all charged at Silver and began barraging him with attacks. Swords were stabbed into his chest, spears were jabbed into his limbs, bullets were fired at his ribcage and barrages of punches and kicks sent him tumbling to the floor.

Silver, now beaten and bloody, fell right at Blanc's feet. **"Gh!"**

Blanc knelt down beside him and shook his body. "H-Hey! Are you alright?!"

 **"Do...I look fine?"** Silver asked rhetorically as he coughed out blood.

Her eyes welled up with tears. "N-No..."

Silver, despite his fatal condition, still smiled. **"Hey, it'll be fine. I'm going to protect you, even if it means dying."**

Blanc wiped her tears with her sleeve. B-But...*hic*…..w-why?"

Silver, using all the energy he could muster, pushed himself back to his feet. **"Because...the other me is too soft. He cares too much about his friends and he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he saw any of you injured or dead because of him. His will is to protect you all and to bring peace. Even if he has to die to do so."**

Silver slowly began to drag his body towards the guards. He couldn't heal because the blades and spears were impaled in him and he could only heal around the wounds. **"Hey...fuckers... I'll make you all...a deal..."**

"H-How are you...not dead...yet?"

 **"You think...it's THAT easy...to kill a Devil?"** Silver sneered. **"Now, listen...to what I...have to say."**

The guards were stunned by his ability to move and were a bit terrified considering they no longer had any weapons. They could only stand paralyzed at the Devil. "W-What is it? W-What...do you want?"

Silver cast them the most serious look he could in his beaten-down state. **"If you spare the CPU, you can do whatever you want to me. The only exception is that you can't kill me. Your weapons may be able to bring me to the brink of death, but they can't kill me. You can just do whatever you want to me."**

The guards all looked at one another. After such a bloody and scary display, they knew it wouldn't do them any good to attack the Devil. So, instead, they nodded. "Alright," a guard turned to another. "Take the CPU to where the others are being held."

The guard began to take Blanc away. She glanced back at Silver with tear-filled eyes. "H-Hey..."

He could only smile and nod. **"Seeya soon."**

Once Blanc had been escorted out of the room, the guards all turned their attention to the Devil. "As for him, render him unconscious and take him to the 'special' room."

The guards nodded, and one guard punched Silver in the gut with all his might. Silver crumpled to the floor and blacked out, the Devils slowly releasing their grip on his consciousness.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And here's another chapter. Even though this was uploaded on time, it was a pain to get it to upload. Here's the story. So, I had just finished this chapter and was going to upload it to edit, but it wouldn't let me, even though I was doing the same thing I had been doing for months. So I spent the last two days trying to solve the issue. Although I resolved it, it was a pain. So there's my little story. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	76. Chapter 76

Chapter 76

 **Silver's POV**

 _And here I am again, in the void of the Darkness._

 _I released a sigh. "Why do you always ruin everything?" I called out to the Darkness._

 _"Hehehe..." A silhouette of a barely-visible human human figure had no features and was entirely black, it was just a silhouette. "I guess you figured it out?"_

 _I gritted my teeth. "I could've died back there! How did you even slip into my Devils' mind!?"_

 _The Darkness let out a laugh, causing the void to echo with his laughter. "It's simple, really. All I had to do was wait for them to let their guard down. It wasn't difficult. Your Devils just got too carried away."_

 _"I'LL FUCKING MURDER YOU!"_

 _The Darkness released a sigh. "That's not the only reason. You received training that made it more difficult to slip into your mind. Your Devils didn't, so they were easier to invade. And, since they let down their guards, it made it even easier to slip into their mind."_

 _"Yeah, but I wanted to protect Blanc," I protested._

 _The Darkness tisked. "You've always been too soft. You nearly got yourself killed earlier."_

 _I smiled. "I don't mind. As long as I know my friends stay safe. That's all that matters."_

 _"Heh, well that will be your demise," the Darkness's silhouette appeared at my shoulder. It whispered into my ear. "You know that, don't you?"_

 _"…" I cast a glare at it. "And you also know that I won't lose myself to you, don't you?"_

 _"Heh, well..." The Darkness hovered it's finger a few inches away from my forehead. "I wonder how long you'll be able to last..."_

 _"…"_

 _The Darkness tapped at my forehead, and I blacked out._

* * *

"...Ngh..." My eyes slowly picked themselves up. "Where...?"

It didn't seem to matter if my eyes were open or not because, either way, I'd end up seeing a black void. As my senses slowly came back, I noticed that I seemed to be strapped to an operating table.

"Gh! What the...?" As I wormed around, sharp stings of pain pricked at my body. I realized how damaged my body seemed to be. Apparently, some of my wounds weren't entirely healed, but they did seem to be patched up. "Damnit."

I tried to force out some of my Devils' energy, but it seemed to instantly disappear right before I could get a hold of it and use it. It was as if my energy was being sapped from me but enough was being left to let me live.

I chuckled. "Man, déjà vu is a bitch, huh?"

This reminded me of the time I got trapped in the facility and had to break out. Difference was, the devices that had been draining my energy there weren't as bad as the ones here. Here, they seemed to drain my energy from me ten times faster.

My body was rapidly losing it's energy and I felt my consciousness slowly begin to slip away again.

I knew it wouldn't do me any good to struggle against these straps binding me down, so I did something else. I sucked in a deep breath and closed my eyes. "…"

Here, true Darkness enveloped my vision as I cleared my mind. The feelings seemed to disappear and I felt as if I hadn't been injured. I felt as if I were perfectly fine. But I was just waiting for the Hell that was about to come. Although this method would give me enough power to break from the straps, I wasn't sure it was worth it. If I failed, I would die.

*Hssss!* *Szzzzz!* *Kzzz!*

The Darkness began to enter my body. The feelings of sorrow, pain and hatred all began to crawl into my mind. The voices started entering my head.

 _"No! I don't want to die!"_

 _"I'LL RULE THIS WORLD! I'LL BE THE ONE CONTROLLING FATE, NOT GOD!"_

 _"What's the point of living anymore? I can't do anything... Nothing can be accomplished with my existence..."_

"Gh...!" I gritted my teeth as the pain intensified. It felt as if my mind were being stabbed over and over by thousands of knives. The voices seemed to get louder as the Darkness began seeping into my body and crawling up my limbs.

 _"Life can't be won against, there's no such thing as a happy ending..."_

 _"You think life can be beaten? That you can choose your own destiny? No, you're horribly wrong. Wake up from your illusion and join the nightmare."_

 _"I lost everybody because of other's own selfish desires. Why should I care for them? No, I'll murder them all in cold blood!"_

The Darkness continued crawling up my body, the pain intensifying. I felt my body going numb, my mind began to freeze, slowly losing it's ability to process information. I felt myself slowly begin to lose myself and all feelings. The voices continued.

 _"All of you who think that happy endings exist are all children. If you truly want to grow up, then wake up to the nightmare; the Hell known as the real world."_

 _"You don't understand me. You don't know the pain I've been through or how hard my life has been. I've already tried to change it, but it never worked! The only solution is destruction. That way, nobody can be happy or in pain!"_

 _"Peace can't exist without evolution. For us to become stronger, we have to feed off the feelings we hate. Anger, sorrow, hatred, are all feelings we need for growth. Feelings like happiness, peace, and joy; they're all feelings that stop our evolution. We can't be happy without despair, we can't love without hating and we can't be joyful without anger. The cycle will never end."_

I squeezed my eyes. My thoughts were slipping away.

 _"Can you really stop the Darkness?"_

 _"What makes you so special? You're just like the rest of us? A pawn."_

 _"It's inevitable. We'll all die eventually. Why bother trying?"_

Voices were bouncing around in my head. The Darkness had now crawled up to my neck. I couldn't think clearly anymore. "Maybe...I...can't..."

 _"No..."_

"…!" My eyes shot open. The voice gently called out to me as a bright light slowly touched me.

 _"Promise me that you'll never leave me."_

 _"I never break my promise."_

 _"I value other's lives more than my own."_

 _"You'll find a way. I know you will."_

 _"Even if we are pawns in this gigantic chessboard, we can become knights and queens and turn the tables."_

Though the Darkness was still crawling up to my head, I smiled. "That's right...I did promise to you... Didn't I...Nepgear?"

Though the ice cold feeling was running through my body, a warm feeling began to radiate at my heart. "You...You're the reason I've made it this far..."

The thought of seeing her in pain, of leaving my friends, breaking bonds, breaking promises and not protecting my friends, it all was something I couldn't let myself live with. "I promise..." I felt the Darkness, that was crawling up my skin, slowly begin to burn away. "That I won't quit!"

*Bang!* *Bang!*

I felt a surge of power enter my body, quickly heating up my body and replacing pain with adrenaline. "GRAHHHH!"

I forced all the power to break the straps binding me to the table. The straps snapped off, causing me to roll to the cold, hard floor and crash to it. I smiled. "Maybe that wasn't worth the trouble to escape..."

A few minutes passed before I picked myself up. Using the little Devil energy I had, I formed a small orb of light. "And here I thought they weren't going to kill me."

The room I was in had a variety of skinned animals skewered. Blood was splattered throughout the room and on the operating table. Knives rested on a nearby metal table and there was a checklist marking what needed to be killed that day. Apparently, I was the last thing that needed to be killed today.

"Well, I think it's kind of cool that they tried to kill two Devils, but I probably wouldn't like it. Especially since it's me," I sighed and looked back at the table. "What could I use to escape from this place?"

As I rummaged through the weapons in front of me, I noticed something that stuck out. "Huh?"

It was a scrap of paper with scribbled-on writing. Some letter were faded out and the paper was crumpled. I picked it up to read it.

 **Save us from this CPU. Save us from Tari...**

"Tari?" I muttered to myself. "I wonder who they are?"

I shoved the scrap of paper into my pocket and continued looking through the weapons. "Huh, what do you know?"

I picked up my weapon and headed towards the reinforced door. I pushed and pulled on it. "Locked," I let out a sigh. "Always got to do everything the hard way, huh?"

I put my hand up to the door and pulsed.

*Bang!* *Crash!*

The door blew off and crashed into a wall outside the butchery. I stepped outside and looked around. It was just a simple, dimly-lit hallway with nobody around. I scanned the area. "Ah, found them."

Upon locating Neptune's location, I stopped my scan and headed for the general direction of where she was located.

* * *

"Hey! Neptune!" I called out after her.

"Huh?" Neptune—who was in her normal form—spun back around. "Silver! You're not dead!"

*Thud!*

"Oomphf!"

Upon being tackled by Neptune I fell to the cold, hard floor as she nuzzled against my chest. "We thought you died!"

"Well, I'm not dead, so—"

"I couldn't bear the thought of it! I couldn't think up of a single excuse to Nep Jr. as to why you were dead! But now I don't have to make up an excuse!"

"So that's what this is all about," I dropped my head. "At least she cares about me to an extent."

While Neptune got off me, the other girls crowded around me. They were also in their normal forms. Noire, Plutia and even Blanc were all here too. Upon noticing her, I cast her a smile. "Hey, Blanc. How are you?"

"…" She stared blankly at me, not showing a hint of emotion.

I cocked my head. "Blanc?"

"Waaah!...*hic!*…..*sniff!*…..." Suddenly, Blanc threw herself at me and cried into my chest. "I-I thought...you died!"

I let out a laugh. "I told you I wouldn't die." I patted her head. "But, why are you crying?"

"B-Because...*sniff*….t-that's none of your business..." Blanc muttered.

I smiled and pulled away from her. "Well, I'm just glad to see you all better now."

Blanc nodded and wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyelids. "Y-Yeah...*sniff*….you too."

I turned to Noire and Plutia. "So how have you two been?"

Noire's usual blush entered her cheeks. "W-Whatever! It's not like I cared or anything!"

I slumped over and sighed. "Still as dishonest as ever, huh?"

Plutia, however, smilled and cuddled with my arm. "Ehehehe... I'm glad your okayyy Silvy. Now I can still have a storyteller and have your praise!"

I smiled at her. "Well, I'm glad to have the part of you that's somewhat innocent back."

I patted Plutia's head, messing with her hair, before turning back to Neptune. "So, where are we going?" I asked.

"We're going to find that Mr. Budd and kick his butt so that we can get Blanc's shares back!" Neptune stated.

I let out a chuckle. "First of all, his name is Mr. Badd. Secondly, we shouldn't just go attack him. That's a horrible idea."

"Huh? Why?"

Noire nodded "Yeah, we need some plan. If we just go in and beat him up, Gamindustri will think we're worse people than we already are and they'll never put their faith back into Lowee's CPU."

"Right, it'll make us look like the bad guys," I said.

Neptune scratched her head. "Well, aren't we always seen as the bad guys?"

I sighed. "That doesn't help."

Plutia raised her hand. "Oooh! Oooh! I have an idea!"

We all spun to her. "Really? What is it?"

Plutia grinned. "Wellll... Mr. Badd said he was going to be on TV, right?" We nodded. "Then why don't weee show how terrible he is on camera, humiliate him and earn Blanny's shares back by fear?"

Our jaws dropped. "Plutia, that's the smartest thing you've ever said," I complimented.

"Yaaay!" Plutia threw her hands into the air. "I'm sooo smart!"

I smiled at her. "Well, how about we do that plan instead?" I asked the others.

They all nodded. "Yeah!"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here's the end of another chapter. We're actually making pretty good progress with the story and there will be some extra chapters soon. However, I decided that I won't change the upload schedule just because it's summer. It puts way too much stress on me. So, once summer school ends the schedule will be Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and maybe Fridays. That's final until I get my life sorted out for more time. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	77. Chapter 77

Chapter 77

"Woah," I whistled lowly.

Upon exiting the hallway, we found ourselves connected to an underground cave. Like every other cave I've seen in Gamindustri so far, there were colorful crystals hanging from the ceiling and they dimly lit the area.

The girls caught up to me. "Wooow..." Plutia's mouth dangled as she took in the cave.

"Woah, Blanc. Why do you have a cave connecting to a prison?" Neptune asked. "Is there like some kind of secret exit with warping pipes and stuff?"

Noire and I nodded. "I'd like to know as well," Noire agreed.

Blanc dropped her head. "I-I...actually didn't make the dungeon..."

Noire let out a groan. "Let me guess, the Seven Sages did?"

Blanc nodded quietly but didn't speak.

I rubbed Blanc's back. "Hey, it's alright. We all make mistakes."

She turned her gaze up to me and smiled dryly. "Thanks..."

I nodded. "Now, how about we go over the game plan, girlies?"

The girls nodded and we all huddled together into a circle. "Man, I feel like I'm getting ready to play some type of competitive game and we're in the planning phase!" Neptune commented.

I shrugged. "I guess you could say that."

"Anyways, how are we going to do this?" Noire asked.

I nodded. "Right," I raised my left thumb and all my fingers on my right hand. "So, we're going to say that the right side is us and the left thumb is Mr. Badd, okay?"

The girls nodded.

"Hehe... Mr. Badd is the fat finger," Neptune muttered.

We all turned to face her. I let out a sigh and set the fingers down. "Yes, Mr. Badd is the fat piggy," I agreed. "But can you at least try to be serious about this Neptune?"

Neptune let out a groan and slumped over. "Fiine..."

"Thanks. Now, as I was saying," I put my fingers back up. "The fingers on the right are us, while the left thumb is Mr. Badd."

The girls nodded once again.

"Now," I wiggled my right index finger. "This is Blanc."

Neptune let out a chuckle. "Heh, Blanc's not that tall."

We ignored Neptune's comment. I guided the index finger to the left thumb. "Our goal is to make sure we record Blanc beating Mr. Badd, then make him confess for his sins. That way, Blanc's shares would all return in an instant," I explained.

I set my hands down. "Alright, you girls understand the plan?"

They all nodded for the last time.

"It would have been soooo much better if you had used finger puppets..." Plutia stated.

I shrugged. "Well, maybe next time," I switched my attention to the path that lay before us. "For now, let's just focus on getting Blanc's shares back for her."

"Right," the girls chorused as we continued through the cave.

* * *

*Clunk!* *Thud!*

I popped my head out and looked around. "Nothing. That's a relief."

I completely swung the trapdoor open, causing a tatami mat to flip upside down. I then pulled myself out of the narrow hole leading up. "Well, at least there's nothing here."

"HEY! HELP US OUT!" Neptune yelled at me.

"Yeah, yeah," I extended my hand down the hole and let Neptune take it. Since she didn't seem to weigh anything at all, I pulled her out of the hole with ease. After she had landed safely onto the mats, I pulled the other girls up.

"Thanks," Blanc thanked. "Now, where is that fat-ass?"

I scanned the area around, highlighting all the existing entities in red. Just on the opposite side of us, Mr. Badd was with Warechu. I switched the scan off. "They're on the opposite side of us."

Blanc nodded as a vein began to form at her temple. "Good, that means I can get there fast enough to beat his ass on live television!"

I sighed. "Well, I won't stop you."

I popped my head outside of the room to find Mr. Badd and Warechu exiting their room. I ducked my head back into the room and turned back to the girls. "Never mind. I guess he's out there right now."

Blanc cracked her knuckles. "Good. Let's get him."

Upon walking out, we heard Warechu complaining to Mr. Badd. "I don't care about your dumb, fake hair! You're not going to become president with that hair! I just want to get this over with before that sadistic CPU gets here!"

Mr. Badd examined his hair in his pocket mirror once more before returning it to his pocket. "Heh, do you really think that those CPUs could escape? I watched over the construction of that prison cell for years and I know for a fact that there isn't a single way out, even if the four CPUs were to join force!"

Warechu shivered. "But they're CPUs and are incredibly powerful! The most worrisome of them is that sadistic one, chu!"

Upon closing in on them, Plutia called out to them "Heeey! It's Mr. Rat!"

The two Seven Sages members whirled their heads towards us. Upon noticing us, Warechu's tiny body stiffened up. "Shit! She's here!"

"Drat!" Mr. Badd gritted his teeth. "How did you five escape!? The rooms made for you all shouldn't have been possible to escape from!"

Neptune chuckled. "Well, after we were captured, the next story scene activated and we escaped."

Mr. Badd tisked. "Damn! When you put it in Fourth-Wall-breaking terms, of course my plan sounds completely flawed!"

I unsheathed my blade and pointed it at the two Seven Sages members. "It's over. Give it up!"

"Heh, you should know by now that no villain would willing give up!" Mr. Badd said.

"Sadly, that's the truth," I muttered.

"Besides, how do you plan to reclaim this nation?" Mr. Badd questioned. "Beating me senseless wouldn't work!"

"Whatever! I'm getting out of here while I can!" Warechu said as he began to scramble off.

"Oh, no you don't!" Noire pointed a finger towards the rat. "Plutia! Transform and chase him down!"

At this command, Plutia grinned widely. "Ookayy... Whee!"

*Ching!* *Bang!*

Once Plutia's transformation had been completed, she dashed at Warechu, who was scurrying away, and snatched him up by the tail. "Yikes! Nooo! Don't hurt me!"

Plutia formed a devilish grin. "Fufufu... Don't worry, you filthy rat. I won't harm you as long as you cooperate with us."

Warechu looked back at Plutia. "C-Cooperate?"

"Yup. You're going to be recording with that camera again," Plutia stated.

"U-Um, okay," Warechu said as he was tossed onto the nearby silver sand. He pulled out the camera after getting to his feet.

Mr. Badd scratched his chin at this. "I see... So that is your plan?"

Noire nodded. "That's right! We're going to expose you for who you really are to Gamindustri and retake Lowee!"

*Ching!*

As Noire finished her transformation, she smirked. "But don't get me wrong. I'm not just doing this for Lowee's CPU. I'm doing this because I want to beat you down to a pulp!"

Mr. Badd let out a laugh. "Hahaha! Oh, I'm shaking in my thirty thousand Credit suit! Don't you all see that your plan is still so flawed!"

*Ching!*

Neptune activated HDD and called out to us. "No, he's just lying. There are four CPUs here and a Spawn. We can win this!"

"Oh?" Mr. Badd smiled wryly at Neptune's statement. "Did you say four CPUs? Because, right now, I only count three!"

"What're you—" Neptune's eyes widened. "No, you don't mean..."

He nodded. "Oh yes. I do mean Lady Blanc."

We all switched our attention to her. "Come on, transform! We're doing this for YOU!" Noire stated.

Blanc squirmed around. "B-But...I can't!"

The realization suddenly hit us. "Blanc, you don't have enough shares, do you?" I asked.

She shook her head in silence.

Mr. Badd continued laughing. "Hahahaha! What will you do now, CPUs?!"

Noire balled up a fist. "Let's just break his bones for her!"

I placed a hand on Noire's shoulder and shook my head. "No, that would defeat the purpose for us doing this."

Neptune nodded. "He's right. We're trying to get Blanc's shares back. If we were to fight without Blanc, we might end up taking away the last of Lowee's shares. That would lead to Blanc losing her powers as a CPU and the extinction of Lowee!"

Noire gritted her teeth. "Damnit! You're right!"

Mr. Badd crossed his arms. "Hmph! Honestly, the powers of a CPU are so weird in the way it works. You're basically powerless without the beliefs of people around you!"

"…" Blanc dropped her head to the ground, tears began welling up at her eyelids.

Noire bit her lip. "Damnit. What do we do?"

Plutia spoke up. "I think I have a suggestion," Plutia noticed Blanc's teary face. "Oh? Is my adorable little Blanny about to cry? Gonna hiccup and bawl!?"

Blanc jerked her head away from Plutia's vision. "I-I'm not crying...*sniff*….I-I'm just...*hic*…..I'm just so frustrated with the situation!"

Plutia smiled at this. "So, it seems, underneath that potty-mouthing, angry Blanny, is a crybaby, weak little Blanny."

Tears were starting to roll down her face. "S-Shut up! It doesn't help that I can't transform! So don't rub it in!"

Plutia let out a sigh before turning back to Blanc. "Well, if that's the case, then there's only one thing that I can do."

"H-Huh?" Blanc blinked once before cocking her head.

"I'll place my faith in the weak, crybaby-of-a-girl Blanc," Plutia pledged.

We all turned to her. "Wait, is that even possible?" Noire questioned.

Neptune shrugged. "I'm not sure. But, I know that Blanc's a dependable person. So I'll place my faith in you Blanc," Neptune said before turning to Noire. "Now you, Noire."

"Huh?" Noire seemed taken back by this request. "Well, since, um, she's an upperclassmen CPU, I guess I'll put a LITTLE faith in her."

"Ahh..." Blanc suddenly smiled. "I can feel it. It's not much, but there's definitely enough share energy here."

I smiled. "Hey, I want to contribute too," I whined as I placed a hand at Blanc's stomach. "I also have faith in you, Blanc."

"Thanks, but why are you—Gh!"

I pulsed and released the energy ball I had planted inside her. "I believe you should have enough power now."

Blanc seemed to examine her body in awe. "T-This power...is insane. It's coursing through my veins."

I nodded. "You're welcome."

Blanc sneered. "Now, with this, I can finally..."

*Ching!*

A white light enveloped Blanc and she transformed into her HDD form, White Heart. "Now I can finally transform! Hell yeah!"

Blanc's expression showed pure joy as she turned to face Mr. Badd. "Now, I can pummel your wrinkly face into the ground!"

Mr. Badd sneered. "Well, that certainly wasn't what I was expecting. Luckily, I have a backup plan!" He clicked a button at his suit jacket.

*Clang!* *Ching!* *Ping!*

Suddenly, a mech seemed to appear from behind him. Mr. Badd was flopped onto an orange armchair with joystick controllers and strapped behind a pink bar. The mech had a fat silver body, purple, crushing pincer claws, the secondary color seemed to be purple, and the mech's head design seemed to represent his current look but a younger version. Basically, the head wore a pair of green glasses and had a brown mustache.

*Boom!*

He slammed his mech's foot on the silver sand. "HAHAHA! Now I can really defeat you all!"

"How'd you even get that thing!?" I asked.

Mr. Badd sneered. "I used part of Lowee's national funding to make it!"

I sighed. " Blanc, if we take your nation back, then you better promise to use that money wisely," I commented.

Blanc turned away from me. "Whatever!"

"Hm?" Neptune looked over at me. "Silver, aren't you going to use those Devils?"

I shook my head. "No. They make fighting too easy and, if I don't stop using them after a certain number of minutes, then "it" will start damaging me."

Neptune nodded. "I see..."

Plutia turned to Warechu. "Start recording, rat!"

Warechu only nodded in fear.

I sighed. "Well, let's get this over with." I said as we all dashed towards the mech.

*Bang!*

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And here's another chapter done. After this Blanc event and a few more chapters, there will be some extra chapters that I'll be writing. They'll be more like filler chapters but it's also a break from the main story and will focus on the story I had planned out for arc five. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	78. Chapter 78

Chapter 78

*Pang!* *Plink!* *Boom!* *Boom!*

As we dashed towards Mr. Badd's mech, it's arms morphed into machine gun turrets and bullets began spraying down at us. The CPUs flew away from the bullets range, leaving me to deal with them. While I continued my run, I dodged and repelled the bullets, causing bullets to fly everywhere.

About twenty meters away from him, his arms morphed into missile cannons. Launching the missiles, they all zoomed at me. I quickly activated Level Two and slowed down time. Right before a missile could make contact with me, I leaped over it. Following that, I landed on another oncoming missile then hopped to the next. After hopping from the missile to missile and hopping from the last missile, mid air, I deactivated Level Two and let time resume. The missiles blew up behind me as I slashed my blade down at Mr. Badd's mech.

*Kshhhhhh!* *Clang!* *Crash!*

Before the blade could make contact with the mech, the mech formed a circular, chromium shield in front of me. I quickly enveloped my blade in my Devils' energy and stabbed my blade into the shield. The energy melted right through the metal as I retracted my blade and took multiple slashes at it. The shield was cut into millions of tiny pieces and left the mech right open. I kicked at it's head, causing it to spin and making the mech crash into the sand.

"Take this!"

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Boom!*

Right as the mech hit the sand, Blanc flew in from behind me and charged at the mech. As the mech picked itself up, she swung her axe at it, breaking through the mech's head and revealing it's circuits. While the mech began to malfunction, Blanc stepped up to it and threw a punch at it, the force of her punch sent the mech crashing into a bridge, creating debri.

"You're mine!"

"You're not getting away without punishment!"

"Finish it off!"

*Bang!* *Crash!* *Crack!* *Boom!*

As the debris cleared, Neptune, Noire and Plutia flew in from above and slammed their blades down on the mech. Their blows slammed down on the mech's head, shattering it into pieces. The mech's malfunctioning continued and it began to sound an alarm.

*ERROR! CANNOT FUNCTION! ENGAGING SELF DESTRUCTION!*

Right before the mech exploded, Mr. Badd ejected from the mech, causing him to fly into the air.

"Oh no you don't! Get your ass back here!"

*Bang!* *Crash!*

As Mr. Badd reached the highest point his chair could touch, Blanc flew towards him and smashed her axe at him. The chair Mr. Badd sat on was sent crashing to the ground just as the mech blew up into a bright ball of orange light.

*Tmp!* *Ching!* *Ching!*

As the girls landed back onto the sand, Neptune and Noire reverted back to their normal forms. Plutia and Blanc, however, stayed in their HDD forms and slowly approached Mr. Badd.

The camera was pointed at Neptune and Noire. "Well, this is Neptune reporting live from Lowee!" Neptune produced a microphone from God-knows-where.

Noire also produced a microphone. "And Noire here. We're reporting from Lowee about...um..." Noire and Neptune turned their attention to Mr. Badd.

The camera also switched to Mr. Badd, who was being "harassed " by Blanc and Plutia.

"N-No! P-Please...stop! Not the pinky toes! Don't touch my pinky toes!" Mr. Badd squirmed in a fetal position. "I'm sorry, okay!? It was all just a set up! I didn't mean to do it! Please stop!"

Neptune and Noire returned to the camera's view. "As you can see, this was all just a scheme by the wicked Seven Sages!" Neptune turned her head to Noire. "Now we go to reporter Noire for her super smart opinion!"

Noire nodded as the camera focused on her. "Yeah, as you can tell this was all part of the Seven Sages' evil plan. It may seem like we're forcing them to make a confession, but this is all fact!" She turned to Neptune. "Hey, it might be a little late to say this, but is it okay to broadcast this?"

"I don't know..." Neptune scratched her head before turning back to the camera. "Hey, mummies and daddies, make sure you put some ear plugs into your little offsprings' ears and shield their eyes!"

Noire sighed. "Yeah, it's too late."

The camera switched back to the two CPUs punishinh Mr. Badd. "Noooo... Turn the camera off! Help a comrade out!" Mr. Badd called over at Warechu.

Warechu looked between Mr. Badd and Plutia before sighing. "Sorry, but I can't defy Lady Plutia. Sorry, chu!"

Plutia looked over at Warechu and smiled. "That's a good rodent," she returned her glare on Mr. Badd. "Unlike this filthy pig!"

Plutia plucked at Mr. Badd's hairs. He jumped with every hair that was removed. "Stop! That hurts...somewhat!"

Blanc sighed before stepping away from Mr. Badd. "I'm done with this guy for now. I can't believe I let this guy trick me..." Blanc cursed under her breath.

Plutia looked over at Blanc. "You're tired of him already?" Plutia formed a devilish grin. "That's fine. I can enjoy him on my own! And, this time, I don't have to hold back to share the fun!"

"Noooo!"

Blanc glared at the camera. "Hey, all you bitches watching this, listen up! If you EVER lose faith in Lowee again, you'll end up like this sorry excuse for a human!" Blanc threatened as the camera focused on Mr. Badd again.

"Squeal louder pig!" Plutia demanded as she cracked a whip at Mr. Badd.

"Ahhhh! Stop! Somebody save me!" Mr. Badd cried out.

Noire jerked the camera back to her. "W-Well, this ends the emergency Seven Sages' apology broadcast! Until next time!"

* * *

After the broadcast had ended, Warechu had dragged Mr. Badd with him out of the Basilicom while the Lowee guards cleaned and repaired the buildings damage. Blanc and Plutia were also now back to their normal forms.

Neptune let out a groan as she stretched. "Well, that's a wrap! We saved Lowee from extinction!"

Plutia smiled at Blanc. "Good job, Blanny!"

Blanc grew a bit of a blush. "Y-Yeah thanks, Plutia," she looked over at Neptune. "And thanks to you too, Neptune."

Neptune shrugged it off. "It's nothing. Don't sweat it!"

Plutia nodded. "Yeeaahhhh... We're friends now!"

Blanc nodded meekly. "Y-yeah, friends."

Noire spoke up. "Um, aren't you forgetting to thank a certain someone?"

Blanc looked over at Noire before smiling and nodding. "Oh yeah. Thanks for reminding me," she spread her arms and walked towards Noire.

"W-Well, it's not like I wanted—Hey!"

But Blanc walked right past her and towards me, wrapping her arms around me. "Thank you, Silver, for protecting and helping me out in my time of need."

I returned her embrace. "Don't mention it. It was no big deal."

She pulled away from me before smiling. "I guess that other you was right. You are too kind, you know that?"

I nodded. "It's just me trying to protect my friends and loved one."

Blanc nodded. "Well, thank you."

Noire crossed her arms and turned away. "Fine! It's not like I actually wanted you to thank me anyways," Noire lied. "I'd probably find it pretty disgusting."

Blanc whirled her head back to Noire. "What'd you just say?!"

"You heard me!"

As the two butted heads, Plutia flailed her arms. "Heeey, be friends!"

Neptune placed a hand on Plutia's shoulders. "It's alright. In my world, it was the same exact thing with them, and now they're good pals!"

Noire and Blanc both turned to Neptune. "We'll never be friends!" They chorused.

Neptune simply smiled and puffed out her chest. "See? They're already agreeing on the same stuff!"

Plutia nodded. "Yeeaah. I can see it too..."

I sighed. "Alright, come on ladies. Let's head home."

The girls nodded. "Finnne..."

As we were getting ready to head back, Blanc called after us. "Hey, wait!"

We spun back to her. "Hm? What's up Blanc?"

Blanc dropped her head and twiddled with her fingers. "I'm going to be busy rebuilding my nation for a while. B-But...if I get some free time...c-can I...come over and play with you, Plutia?"

Plutia smiled and nodded "Sure!"

Neptune grinned and turned to Noire. "So, Noire. How does it feel that Blanc stole Plutia away from you?" Neptune asked.

Noire whirled her head to Neptune. "W-What are you talking about!? Plutia clearly thinks I'M the better friend!"

Neptune shrugged. "I don't know. She keeps saying how dope and gucci Blanc is. Plus, Silver and I are safe because we always hang with Plutie."

Noire let out a groan and tugged on Plutia's sleeve. "Come on, Plutia! Let's hurry home already!"

"Okaaay... Bye-bye Blanny..." Plutia waved Blanc bye as Noire dragged Plutia out of the Basilicom.

Blanc waved back. "Seeya later."

* * *

As we walked out the doors of Lowee's Basilicom, I turned to the girls. "Hey, when did you all become such good friends with Blanc?" I asked.

They turned to me. "Huh? What do you mean?" Neptune asked.

"I mean like how come Plutia's such good friends with Blanc now?" I asked.

"Oh, that," Neptune looked up towards the sky, the sun's rays shining down on us. "Well, Blanc got thrown into a prison cell with us. There was no way out, so we were all stuck there together."

I nodded. "Okay, but it still doesn't explain how Plutie became such good friends with Blanc."

Neptune held up a hand to silence me from speaking any further. "Hey, I'm getting there," Neptune said. "While Blanc was in there with us, Noire made Blanc cry and Plutie comforted Blanc. Then Plutie went into HDD and said that she'd help Blanc out," Neptune shivered a bit. "But then she made us promise to help. But I guess we all sorta became friends after that."

"I see..." I scratched my chin. "But then how'd you all escape?"

"Oh, yeah!" Neptune formed a wide grin. "Well, Vert showed back up and broke us out!"

I cocked my head with confusion. "Vert showed up? I thought she left us."

Neptune shook her head. "Nope! She got the keys from some guard and broke us out. Simple as pie!"

"Okay," I nodded. "I think I get it now."

'That reminds me," Noire turned to Plutia, who was staring off into space. "Plutia, why were you being so nice to Lowee's CPU?" Noire asked.

Neptune nodded. "Yeah, why were you being so nice? Do you really think that Blanc is THAT awesome and cool?"

"Ummmm, well..." Plutia scratched her head. "Blanny was crying, so I thought I'd be nice..."

"Yeah, but Sadie doesn't care about other's emotions," Neptune stated. "She doesn't care if they're bloody, broken or dead."

Plutia frowned. "Heyyy... Let me finish..." She pleaded.

"Sorry," Neptune apologized.

"Sooo...Blanny was crying and I thought that it looked SUPER cute!" Plutia beamed a bright smile.

We all gave her a strange look. "Super cute?" Neptune questioned.

"Uh-huh!" Plutia nodded. "Sooo...I thought if I acted nice to Blanny, then acted mean, she would cry even harder and that would make it even more super cuter!"

We all stared at Plutia in shock. "…"

"Man, I wonder what Blanc would think if she heard that now," Neptune wondered.

"Heeey...I don't think that anymore," Plutia stated. "It was just what I was of thinking of at the time."

Neptune nodded. "Uh-huh, sure girl. Just remind me to never get on your bad side."

I sighed. "Plutia, the things you find cute and fun aren't what a lot of people consider fun and cute. You do know that, right?"

Plutia shrugged. "I don't minnnd. As long as I can take a naaap later..."

I let out a chuckle. "You really do enjoy your naps, don't you?"

Plutia nodded. "Naps are love. Naps are life..."

"Well, let's hurry back home so that we can take as many naps as we want!" Neptune said.

"Yeeaahh!" Plutia agreed with her.

And like that, we continued our adventure back home.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Another chapter done. Summer school is almost over and I think Megadimension Neptunia will be released on Steam sometime soon, but I'm not sure. So it's looking to be a good few weeks. But, there won't be an upload schedule change for a few more weeks. I'm going on a vacation on the first week of July, so I'm not sure if I can upload, but I'll try. If I can upload, then I'll still upload three times a week. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	79. Chapter 79

Chapter 79

 **Tolise's POV**

Nepgear sighed. "It's been so long since I've seen Silver or Neptune," she sulked.

Uni let out a groan. "Nepgear, pull yourself together. It hasn't even been that long since your last call with them."

I nodded. "That's right. You'll be fine. You still have your friends here, don't you?"

Nepgear nodded. "Yeah, but I want to play with Neptune and be with Silver..."

"But Nepgear, you've been without Neptune for years, remember?" Uni asked. "You were fine back then."

Nepgear continued sulking. "Yeah, but that was then. This is now."

I patted her back. "I'm sorry about what you have to go through. But sulking won't solve anything."

Uni nodded. "Yeah, can you at least try to focus on your work for now, please?"

Nepgear sighed and smiled at us. "Ok, sure..."

We returned her smile.

Ever since Histoire had gotten off her call with Silver and Neptune about how to get home, Nepgear had returned to sulking. So, to help take her mind off it, Uni and I had decided to take Nepgear out with us to patrol the streets of Planeptune.

"By the way, why are we out in this part of Planeptune?" I asked.

"We're out patrolling for the Citizens Group," Uni answered.

I nodded. "I see..."

"Hey," Nepgear pointed ahead of us, towards Rei. "Isn't that the head representative?"

Uni gasped. "You're right! Let's go ask her some questions!" Uni said as she dashed towards Rei.

"Hey, wait up!" We called after her.

"Excuse me, lady," Uni approached Rei and tapped on her shoulder. "We'd like to ask you some questions."

"Hm?" Rei turned around to meet Uni. Upon seeing her, she cast her a deadly cold glare. "You're...a CPU... No, you're just a CPU Candidate..."

Uni nodded. "Good to see that you already know, so that saves me some time. With that being said, I'd like to ask you some questions."

Rei gritted her teeth. "A filthy CPU Candidate has no right to be touching me!"

"Uni, look out!" I called out to her as I lunged towards her.

*Smack!*

"…!"

"You...who are you?" Rei asked.

I sneered. "Let's just say I'm a friends of theirs."

Uni stood behind me, shielded by my body. I tightly gripped Rei's hand. Her smack to my face was still ringing and burning my cheek. Luckily, I could heal fast.

"…" She jerked her hand away and walked off.

As I watched her leave, I turned back to Uni just as Nepgear caught up with us. "Uni, are you alright?" Nepgear asked worriedly.

She nodded and turned to me. "Yeah, thanks Tolise."

I returned her thanks with a smile. "Don't mention it. But we should probably just head home for now."

Uni nodded. "Yeah, it's starting to get pretty crazy with these Citizens Group members."

Nepgear nodded. "Yeah..."

"Then let's head home for now," I suggested.

And like that we began our walk back home. Little did I know that this marked the beginning of something...

* * *

 **Silver's POV**

I wiped the sweat from my forehead onto my drenched white undershirt. "Man, I think I'm done questing for today."

After we had all returned to our respected nations, I had spent the last few weeks collecting shares for Planeptune while Neptune was with Noire in her nation and Plutia was off being herself.

I gulped on the last of my water as I turned the corner of the Planeptune street to near the Basilicom and tossed the bottle into a nearby trash bin. "Hm?" I squinted my eyes to focus on the view in front of me. Ahead of me, was Neptune and Noire, also approaching the Basilicom. "Hey! Noire! Neptune!" I called out to them.

They turned back to me. "Oh hey! It's Silver!" Neptune exclaimed. She waved over at me. "Heya bud!"

I jogged up to them and joined their walk. "Where have you two been?" I asked.

Noire sighed. "Neptune was at my place playing all my games for two weeks straight."

I let out a chuckle. "That sounds about right."

"Hey!" Neptune whined. "That's not what happened at all!"

I cocked my head. "Oh? Then what did happen?"

"Every time I would beat Noire at a game, she would beg me to stay over so that she could try again to beat me," Neptune explained. "But she didn't beat me a single time we played."

Noire blushed a bit. "Don't tell him!"

"I see..." I nodded. "Then, Noire, why are you coming to the Basilicom with us?" I asked.

"Because I finished all my work, so I have some free time," Noire explained. She then grew a deeper blush. "A-Also, I don't want Plutia to forget about me..." She murmured.

I smiled slightly. "Well, I can understand that."

Neptune grinned. "Yeah, Noire just can't stand being lonely."

"Shut up!" Noire shouted.

"Hm?" I looked over to my right to notice Blanc also walking towards Planeptune's Basilicom. "Hey! Blanc!" I called out to her.

She turned to my direction and, upon noticing me, smiled. Blanc walked towards us and joined our walk. "Hello, Silver. How are you?"

I shrugged. "I'm fine. What're you doing in Planeptune?" I asked.

"Yeah, what's Lowee's CPU doing here?" Noire asked.

"I could say the same about you, CPU of Lastation," Blanc retorted.

"Grr..."

"Rrrr..."

Neptune and I watched as the two girls glared intensely at each other. "Hey, hey! There's no need to start to a fight! Can't we just hug it out like in those children's movies?" Neptune asked.

Noire and Blanc whirled their heads at Neptune. "No!" They chorused.

I let out a sigh. "How'd it come to this?" I questioned.

"Come on you two! If Sadie catches you two fighting, then we'll all be doomed!" Neptune warned.

Noire and Blanc tensed up at this. "Urgh!"

"Wow, I can't believed that actually worked," I commented.

Noire and Blanc turned away from each other. "Whatever. I didn't even come to argue."

"Yeah. Besides, I could beat you any other day," Noire claimed.

"Well, at least they stopped fighting," I said.

Neptune nodded. "By the way, Blanc. Why are you here in Planeptune anyways?" She asked.

"I've found some free time and decided to come visit Plutia," Blanc plainly answered.

"That's cool! It must've been hard spending those last few weeks doing boring work and not playing," Neptune commented before frowning. "Wow, it's so weird that Blanc and Noire are fighting for Senpai Plutia's attention."

I nodded. "Yeah, I would've never guessed it."

"By the way," Blanc scanned me up and down. "What have you been doing these last few weeks, Silver? And why is your shirt drenched?"

I chuckled. "Nothing special. I've just been doing quests to collect shares for Planeptune."

Blanc looked over at Neptune before returning her gaze to me and shaking her head. "Why can't you be the CPU? You're so much more qualified."

I shrugged. "I probably wouldn't like it. Sure, the powers are great, but I just don't think it's for me."

"I see..." Blanc returned her attention to the view ahead of us. "Well, looks like we're here."

* * *

"We're home!" Neptune shouted out as we reached the living room floor.

"Huh?!"

"What the?!"

"Um..."

"Heeey! Welcome hoome, Neppy and Silvy!" Plutia greeted us.

We all stared at Plutia in surprise. "Um, Plutia?"

"Huuh? What is it?" Plutia asked.

"Why do you have three babies with you!?" I questioned.

Waddling and rolling around Plutia were three toddlers. One seemed to be a baby version of IF, another seemed to be a baby version of Compa and the third was one I didn't recognize.

Baby IF wasn't that different from the regular IF when it came to facial features. She had big, green eyes, pale skin and short brown hair with a leaf accessory. She also wore a sky blue jumpsuit with a white and blue bib—which had a yellow, cartoon chick.

Baby Compa also resembled her counterpart. She had pale skin along with strawberry pink eyes and matching short, curly hair. She wore a pink jumpsuit with a white and red bib—which had a red, cartoon octopus on it.

Finally, there was a baby which I didn't recognize. She had fair skin, sea blue eyes and yellow hair with two red beads holding up a bit of her hair. She wore a yellow jumpsuit with a white and yellow bib—which had a cartoonish bee on it.

"Hmmm?" Plutia looked around at the three babies. "What's wrong with them?"

The girls all stared at Plutia. "Wait a second. If Plutie has three babies around her, and she finds it perfectly normal, does that mean that..." The girls gasped at Neptune's assumption. "WHAAAT!?"

The babies jumped a bit and the baby Compa began to sob. "Wa...Wahhhh!"

"Ahhh!" Plutia yelled in a hushed tone. "Don't yell!"

"How can we not yell!?" Neptune questioned. "You just had babies! Who's the dad?!"

The girls all turned to me. "What!? I didn't even know that these babies were here until now!"

"Still, you two could have had babies," Blanc suspected.

Neptune sighed. "Man, I don't know how I'm going to break this to Nepgear. She'll be so sad when she finds out that Silver cheated on her."

"I didn't cheat on anyone!" I shouted.

Noire began to panic. "We just have to calm down. Let's just breath in through the nose and out through the mouth."

I took a seat on a cushion as the girls did their breathing exercise. "By the way," I said, pointing at the girl with the yellow jumpsuit. "Who's that girl?"

"Oohhh... That's Peashy!" Plutia claimed.

"Pea! Pea!" Peashy chanted.

I smiled. "Yeah, I think that name fits her pretty well."

At that moment, Mini-Histoire walked in. "Goodness, what's with all the commotion?(・_・)"

"Mini-Histy!" Nepptune cried at her. "When were the babies popped out!?"

Mini-Histoire cocked and scratched her head. "Come again?(・・。)ゞ"

"Why are there babies here?!" I asked.

"Oh," Mini-Histoire seemed to realize what we had just asked. "They're actually not any babies Plutia had. Since those kidnappings are going on, we decided to bring them to the safety of the Basilicom.( ∵ )"

"I see..." I nodded.

The girls relieved sighs. "Man, I thought that Plutia actually had kids," Noire stated.

Blanc nodded before glaring at me. "Yeah, and with Silver too..."

"Yeah, if he had done that with Plutie, I would have made sure he would never woke up again," Neptune said.

A shiver ran down my spine. "You're not joking, are you Neptune?"

She shook her head.

I sighed. "First of all, I'm no two-timing bitch. Secondly, I haven't even done anything slightly suggestive with Plutia. And third, I actually love Nepgear. I'm not going to cheat on her."

Plutia nodded. "Yeaah... Silvy hasn't even let mee hold his hand yet..."

I looked over at Plutia. "Yet?"

Neptune sighed. "Well, I guess you're okay. But if I ever find out you cheat on my Nep Jr., then I'll make sure you'll never be able make love again."

I gulped. "Y-Yeah."

"Heeey..." Plutia tugged on my sleeve. "Can you guys help me with the baaabies...?"

Upon hearing Plutia's request, the girls averted their gaze. "Umm... I'm not good with babies," Neptune claimed.

Blanc nodded. "Yeah, I've never been good around kids anyways."

Noire shrugged. "It's not my business to deal with Planeptune's problem."

Plutia frowned. "Buut they make me soo mad sometimes. They've started making me sooo mad, that I've almost transformed before."

At this, the girls stiffened. "Y-You know what?! Maybe it's time I learn how to be better with kids!" Neptune stated. "R-Right, Blanc?"

Blanc, whose eyes shown terror, nodded. "Y-Yeah. There's no time like the present after all!"

Noire squirmed around. "I-I guess I can help for today. T-This could probably help with my shares anyways."

I shrugged. "I was going to help anyways."

Plutia smiled at our new responses. "Yaaaay...!"

"Man, the power of Iris Heart really is scary," I muttered before joining the other girls with the babies.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Chapter done! Pretty soon, there will be some filler chapters. So, for those of you who like the secondary story, there will be a few chapters of that in the near future, probably next week. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	80. Chapter 80

Chapter 80

"N-No...more..." Neptune collapsed onto the floor.

"Sooo...tired..." Plutia fell on top of Neptune and began napping.

"I knew...I wasn't good...with kids..." Blanc also joined them.

"N-No...more...diapers..." Noire pleaded as she fell with them.

I flopped onto the couch and relaxed my body. "Forget fighting. Dealing with those babies was worse than anything I've ever had to fight with before."

After roughly three hours of running around and trying to get the babies to nap, we were now collapsed in the Basilicom's living room while the babies napped quietly in Plutia's room.

"Forget playing... I'm just going to nap..." Neptune yawned and closed her eyes. "Wake me up tomorrow..."

"Neptune! Silver! Wake up! It's an emergency! (((( ;°Д°))))" Mini-Histoire quickly flew into the room and pushed on Neptune's shoulder in a panic.

"Aww... Look I'll do all the paperwork and listen to all the lectures you want me to tomorrow... " Neptune murmurred. "Just...let me sleep..."

"This is no time to sleep! This is an emergency! Wake up! ( ≧Д≦)"

Noire sighed. "Hey...I think you might actually want to wake up, Neptune. I think this might be an actual emergency."

"Mmgm…. Fine…" Neptune grumbled, peeking her eyes open. "So, what is it?"

"Well, I have bad news and worse news. (-｡-;)" Mini-Histoire stated.

"Reaaallly…?" Plutia cocked her head, also opening her eyes. "Can we hear the bad news first?"

"Sure, (・_・) " Mini-Histoire nodded. "This involves all four of you CPUs. Apparently, a nation has declared war on your three nations."

"What?!" The girls rolled away from their dogpile. "A nation?! But there hasn't been a single nation formed here in the last two weeks! I'm positive!" Noire protested.

"Yes, it is true that no new nation has been formed on this continent. (・.・)" Mini-Histoire agreed. "However, a new nation has been formed on a continent overseas."

"Overseas!? What's the nation called?!" Noire demanded.

"Um..." Mini-Histoire scratched her head. "I believe it was called Leanbox. (・_・ヾ "

Neptune sighed. "Oh, how I wish I could spoil the story right now..."

I nodded. "Yeah, because we already know everything about Leanbox."

Noire ignored my conversation with Neptune and nodded silently. "Then, that must mean there's a CPU there, right?"

Mini-Histoire nodded. "Yes. She wishes for you five to come to her nation."

"Another nation and another CPU!?" Blanc tisked. "Great, another damn newbie to deal with."

I rose from the couch. "Wait, if that's the bad news, then what's the worse news?" I asked curiously.

"Yes, that...(⌣_⌣)" Mini-Histoire's voice trailed off and she bowed her head. "Well, you see..."

Neptune pulled herself back to her feet. "Come on, Mini-Histy! If that was the bad news, then what's the worse news? I'm sure it can't be that bad considering how nonintimidating the bad news was."

Mini-Histoire gulped. "Well, the problem is... (⌣.⌣;) "

Neptune leaned closer towards Mini-Histoire. "Is...? What is it? Spit it out. We've already created enough tension."

"Very well... (⌣ ⌣") " Mini-Histoire sighed and looked up at Neptune and I. "You two are going home..."

We stared at her blankly. "What?"

"The other me recently got a hold of me about an hour or so ago. She says that she has discovered a way for you two to return home now," Mini-Histoire explained.

I nodded. "I see..."

"Wait," Noire spoke up. "So, that means that Neptune and Silver..."

Blanc continued her sentence. "Are going home..."

"And are neeever coming back...?" Plutia finished the sentence.

Mini-Histoire only nodded in silence.

Neptune sighed before forcing out a dry laugh. "Well, let's get this show on the road."

The girls began walking to the balcony. Before Neptune could go, I grabbed her wrist. "Hey..."

"Hm? What's up?" She watched me with a puzzled expression.

"I need to talk to you about something before we do this."

Neptune nodded. "Alright."

* * *

"Sorry, we needed to have a quick talk," I apologized to the girls as Neptune and I arrived onto the balcony.

"Quick? More like ten minutes," Noire sighed. "But, I guess the time has come..."

I nodded. "Yeah..."

"Alright, I shall put the other me on speaker now," Mini-Histoire announced.

The holographic image of our Histoire appeared. "Hello, Neptune and Silver."

"Hey..." We both chorused glumly.

Histoire sighed upon noticing our expressions. "I understand that you both are sad about your departure, but the dimension you're in isn't where you two are from."

"Yeah..." We continued responding glumly.

"Heeey..." We felt a tug on our sleeves and turned our heads back. Standing there, was a teary-eyed Plutia. "Do you two have to gooo? I don't waaant you two to go..." Plutia whined.

We smiled at her. "I don't want to go either, but I have to return home and solve the problems on the other side."

"B-But...*sniff*….I-I...don't want you two to goooo...!" Tears began to roll down Plutia's cheeks as she cried.

"Plutie..."

Neptune pulled her into a hug and Plutia tightly embraced Neptune. "N-Nep...*hic*...Neppy..."

Neptune whispered into her ear. "Don't worry Plutie...*sniff*…. I-I'll be back someday..." Neptune promised as her body began trembling and tears began rolling down her cheeks.

The girls pulled away after awhile, both tear-stained and with puffy, red eyes. "I-I'll...*hic*….miss you, Plutie-pie..." Neptune could only form a small smile with her quivering lips.

Plutia tried her best to smile back. "Y-You...*hic*….You too, Neppy-poo..*sniff*..."

Plutia then turned to me. Tears were resurfacing at her eyelids again. "S-Silvy..."

I could only nod and open my arms for her. "Yeah... I know..."

"Wahhhh!" Plutia threw herself at me and tightly wrapped her arms around me. "P-Please...*hic*…..Please don't leavve...!"

All I could do was smile. "I-I know..." I whispered into her ear. "I don't want to leave any of you either. But I have others I need to protect too."

"B-But...Silvy...*sniff*….Whenever I'm around you...I-I...*hic*…..I feel warm and fuzzy...a-and...it makes me happy..." Plutia tightened her grip on me. "A-And now...*sniff*….seeing you leave...i-it...hurts..."

I nodded and continued quietly whispering into her ear. "I know how you feel. I know how much it hurts. Believe me, I wish there was another option. But if I don't return now, I don't know what will happen."

Plutia's nails clawed into my shoulder blades. "B-But..."

"Hey..." I lifted her chin and patted her head. "I promise I'll be back."

Plutia's crying quieted. "R-Really?"

I beamed her a bright smile. Then I pecked her softly on the forehead. "Is that enough to prove that I'll be back?"

Plutia, shocked by what I had just done, stood bewildered for a second before snapping back to herself and growing a slight blush. "Y-Yeah...! I believe you now!" Pulling away, she wiped away her tears and beamed her brightest smile at me.

"Good," Neptune and I switched our attentions to Noire. "Well..."

Noire, who was teary-eyed, crossed her arms and turned away from us. "W-Whatever! I-I'm...*sniff*….I'm just a sympathetic crier... I-It's...*hic*….It's not like I'll actually miss you two...*sniff*...or anything!"

Neptune could only stare at Noire with sympathy. "Noire..." Neptune walked up to Noire and wrapped her arms around her. "I'll miss you too, don't worry." Another tear fell from Neptune's eye.

"…" Noire sobbed quietly as she returned Neptune's embrace.

Noire pulled away and smiled slightly. "You know, I might actually miss your idiocy and noisyness...*sniff*….after being around it for so long... J-Just maybe..."

Neptune nodded. "I'll miss you too..."

As Neptune backed away, Noire approached me. Her eyes were red and puffy and tears were still in the corner of her eyelids. However, she still had a slight blush. "H-Hey..."

"…" Without saying a word, I wiped away her tears and pulled her into a hug, letting her bury her face into my chest. "I know... I'll miss you..."

"….." I felt the tears slowly begin to soak my jacket as Noire continued crying into my chest. I patted her head. "I know... The time I spent with you here was fun...it really was... But I have other duties to attend to..."

"Y-yeah..." Noire looked up towards my face. "Y-You'll come back, right?"

I smiled and nodded. "Someday, I will..."

"H-How...How can I be sure you're not lying?" Noire questioned.

"Easy," I pulled away from her before quickly pecking her cheek. "Is that enough?"

Noire caressed the spot I had touched my lip to her face before looking back at me. "Y-Yeah..."

I smiled and Neptune and I turned to Blanc. There were already tears streaming down her cheeks. "I-I didn't get to know you two very well," Blanc smiled wryly. "But...I still had fun with you two. Silver, you protected me, and Neptune, I had fun with you."

"Blanc..." We pulled her into a group hug and tightly squeezed her. "We'll miss you..."

"Yeah..." Blanc nodded silently. "Don't worry about that kissing or promising crap, Silver. I know you'll return and still be a good friend."

We pulled away from her and I let out a dry laugh. "Yeah..."

"Excuse me. Neptune, Silver?" Histoire spoke up.

"Well, guess this is goodbye to you all," Neptune announced. "See you all in a sequel..."

We both turned back to Histoire. "We're ready, Histy..."

Histoire nodded. "I'm glad that you both have spent so hard working for this and creating bonds. So I won't let this go to waste," Histoire said. "Once I open the gate, just step through the pillar of light."

"Yeah..." We nodded.

*Ping!* *Ching!*

A bright beam of light crashed down in front of us. It was a pillar of blinding, swirling light. "We don't have much time, so hurry up you two!" Histoire commanded.

I sighed and looked over at Neptune. She nodded. We both turned back to Histoire. "Actually, we had a talk, Histy. Can we stay for just a bit longer, please? We haven't even wrapped up what we needed to do," Neptune pleaded.

Histoire's eyes widened at this. "What?!"

The girls all looked back at us. "Neppy...Silvy..." Plutia smiled widely.

"You two, I don't think you understand. This could be your only possible chance at returning home. If you don't take it now, who knows when you'll ever be allowed to return home?!" Histoire explained.

Plutia sighed. "It's alright Neppy. I'll beee fine. I have Noire and Blanny with me now," Plutia reassured.

We returned her smile. "Thanks."

The girls nodded silently as we approached the pillar of light. "Well, sayonara—"

"Hey! Is that Neptune and Silver?!" A voice questioned. "And what's this pillar of light?"

"That voice..."

Neptune nodded. "Yeah, it's Nep Jr. !"

"Nepgear! Step away from that gate!" Histoire yelled.

"Wowie! It's so bright!" Nepgear exclaimed. "W-Wait, I'm getting sucked iinn!"

"Wait! I got yoou!" Another voice joined the channel.

*Plip!*

Right before we could step into the pillar of light, it disappeared in the blink of an eye. "Oh god..." I sighed and facepalmed.

Neptune also sighed. "Well, that was a wasted dramatic scene," Neptune picked up Mini-Histoire. "I'm just gonna place Mini-Histy...over here," She plopped Mini-Histoire right beside the doorway.

We all backed away from Noire. "Huh? Why are you guys backing away from me? And why do I have this strange feeling of déjà vu?" Noire realized why as two shadows began to come closer and closer to her. "Wait, I remember this! This was the same feeling I got when Neptune and Silver fell from the sky and landed on m—agh!"

*Thud!*

Two beings crashed onto Noire, slamming her to the ground and creating some smoke. Standing on top of her, were Nepgear and Hikan. "And it looks like two new challengers have joined the fight."

"Nepgear, what were you doing?" Hikan asked, pulling himself to his feet.

"Owwie..." Nepgear looked up at Hikan, who helped Nepgear to her feet. "I-I'm sorry. I heard Silver and Neptune and got curious..."

Neptune and I sighed. "Well, you found us, clingy girlfriend of mine. Congratulations!" I congratulated.

"Wooow...! So, that's Nepgear...?" Plutia pointed towards Nepgear.

I nodded. "Yup. Neptune's clingy little sister and my girlfriend."

Nepgear perked up and examined the crowd of people. "O-Oh! Hello! My name's Nepgear! It's nice to meet you all!"

After finishing her greeting, Nepgear instantly lunged towards me and stuck herself to my arm. "I missed you.." She whispered into my ear.

I pecked her cheek. "I missed you too."

"Right..." Blanc nodded and pointed towards Hikan. "Then who's this guy?"

I smiled. "That's Hikan. He's another CPU from our dimension."

Blanc nodded. "I see..."

Hikan whirled his head to us. "Um, hey," he meekly waved at us. "Where are we?"

I groaned. "The dimension Neptune and I were about to leave," I answered.

Their eyes widened as Noire picked herself off the floor. "Why's it always have to be me?" She grumbled.

"O-Oh no..." Histoire's voice was shaky. "Not only have I lost Neptune and Silver, but also another CPU and a CPU Candidate..."

"Shit," I cursed.

"What do we do now?" Neptune asked.

"We'll have to continue this discussion inside," Histoire said.

We all nodded and headed inside the Basilicom.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Another chapter ready to serve to all you hungry folks! Sorry this was uploaded so late. I was busy studying for my test tomorrow. Also, I hope this answers your question, _assassinguy200_ about Hikan. After the next chapter, or halfway through, I'll probably be starting the secondary story, also known as the setup for arc five and filler. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	81. Chapter 81

Chapter 81

Upon reentering the Basilicom living room, the babies waddled out of Plutia's room. "Eh?" Baby IF stared blankly at Nepgear and Hikan. She pointed in between them. "Who deez?"

"Oh, goodness!" Nepgear unattached herself from me and ran up to the babies, while I stood with Hikan. "Are these baby versions of Compa and IF!?"

I nodded. "Yup."

Nepgear smiled with glee. "Golly!" Nepgear crouched down and waved to them. "Hello! I'm Nepgear! It's nice to meet you three!"

The babies all stared at Nepgear blankly. "Gear...?"

"Ge-Ge...?"

"Nepugeeia!"

I chuckled. "Man, they already got nicknames for you Nepgear."

Nepgear beamed me a bright smile. "I don't mind! Seeing their faces makes me want to melt in their cuteness!"

"I guess it runs in Neptune's family," Noire commented. "They must all be strange people and also bringers of chaos."

Neptune turned to Noire. "Hey! That's not true!" Neptune claimed. "First, it wasn't me this time that brought the chaos. Second, Nep Jr. and Hikan were the ones who ruined the scene!"

Nepgear frowned and clapped her hands. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"

"Yeah," Hikan agreed. "And I was just trying to stop her!"

Noire sighed. "Well, I guess Hikan has some excuse."

"Who dat?" Baby IF asked, pointing towards Hikan.

Hikan turned to the babies and waved to them. "Oh, yeah. Hi, I'm Hikan."

The babies gave Hikan the same blank stare as Nepgear. "Pe...can?"

"Hickle?"

"Hen! Hen!"

Hikan sighed. "I guess I can't blame you three for mispronouncing my name. You all are babies after all..."

"Hey," Noire spoke up. "Can we turn back to the main problem at hand?"

"Sorry!" Hikan and Nepgear chorused.

We all turned back to the holographic image of Histoire. "Alright, Histy. What do we do now?"

Histoire had her chin propped onto her hands. "I'm not sure..."

"WHAT!?" Neptune shouted. "What do you mean?! You're like the magical fairy girl that's supposed to be smart!"

Histoire shook her head. "No, it's just that I can't figure out another solution. That portal was meant for two people and could only be used once."

"Yeah, and a certain two ruined the opportunity to use that portal," Blanc commented, casting a glare towards Nepgear and Hikan.

"We said we were sorry!" The two of them chorused.

"Anyway," Neptune switched the conversation back. "What do we do now?"

"I'm not sure..." Histoire scratched at the back of her head. "I guess I'll look for another solution. For now, continue increasing your shares and deal with the problems in the dimension you're in. Until next time."

*Plip!*

Histoire's image disappeared and Mini-Histoire relieved a heavy sigh. "That conversation drained me of my energy. Excuse me while I go get some rest. (ｏ＿ ＿)ｏ"

We watched as Mini-Histoire floated away to her room. "So, what should we do now?" Neptune asked.

"Let's go visit that nation Leanbox," Blanc suggested.

Hikan and Nepgear cocked their heads. Nepgear spoke up. "Leanbox? Isn't that Ver—"

I quickly put a hand over her mouth. "Don't say it. They don't know about Leanbox yet."

Nepgear nodded and I removed my hand from her mouth. Hikan stared at me. "Hey, why is there another version of the CPUs and why are we going to Leanbox?"

"Silly Hikan!" Neptune teased. "This is another dimension, so of course there are different versions of us. Plus, we were invited to Leanbox for war or something."

"I see..." Hikan nodded.

"Alright, since we're heading to Leanbox, we should be careful," Noire suggested. "Plutia, Neptune. Hurry up and get ready."

"What?! We don't even get a saying in this?!" Neptune asked.

"Yeeaah... That's not fair," Plutia complained.

"There's no point," Noire said. "If we asked, you two would probably make some dumb remark."

"You're not wrong," I agreed.

"Alright, let's go to Leanbox," Blanc commanded. "I want to see this CPU."

"Wow, for once we actually agree on something," Noire stated.

"Whatever!" Neptune piped up. "Let's go!"

"Wait!" Neptune fell to the ground at Plutia's demand.

"What is it, Plutie?" Neptune asked.

"If we go to Leeaanbox... Then who's going to watch the baaaabies...?" Plutia asked.

"Oh yeah," Noire agreed. "I guess we can't leave them."

"Then what should we dooo...?" Plutia asked.

"I got it," Blanc stated. "Why not let Hikan and Nepgear watch them?"

"WHAT!?" The two of them yelled.

"Hm?" Blanc turned to them. "What's wrong?"

"We can fight! Why can't we come with you guys?! Why do we have to watch the babies?" Hikan asked.

"Well, even if you two can fight and were CPUs, here, you two aren't CPUs yet. You have to get an item to become CPUs," Noire explained.

"Yeah, so you two would probably end up slowing us down," Blanc nodded. "Plus, we can't just leave these babies alone."

The two of them sighed. "Fine," Hikan submitted. "We'll watch the babies."

"But I want to be with Neptune and Silver," Nepgear whined. "I haven't seen them in so long."

"Hey," I approached Nepgear and placed a hand onto her shoulder. "Once we get back, I'll spend a lot of time with you."

Nepgear looked up at me. "R-Really?"

I nodded. "Yup. We can do whatever you want. It's a promise!"

Neptune chimed in. "Hey! Once I get back too, we can spend time having some sister on sister action!"

Nepgear smiled at this and then nodded. "Alright."

I returned her smile. "Good. Now, I'll see you later."

*Smack*

Nepgear leaned in close and kissed my cheek. "Okay, I'll see you later."

* * *

"Well, nothing bad seem to have happened," Noire said as she observed Leanbox.

Blanc nodded. "Yeah, there were no traps setup or anything. This CPU must be really confident."

After we had left the Basilicom, we had been given a boat to sail to Leanbox with. Luckily, it was autopiloted. However, Noire and Blanc were skeptical because they thought the boat was a trap. Turns out it wasn't a trap.

I nodded. "Yeah. But I guess this is Leanbox."

The Leanbox here looked practically the same as the other dimension's Leanbox. The only difference was that there seemed to be more factories and buildings built.

While we were supposed to be heading to the Basilicom of Leanbox, we couldn't advance for one reason.

"Plutie! Look!" Neptune pressed her face against the food store's display glasses. "Look at this meat! It looks so unmeatly!"

Plutia joined her. "Woooow! They're sooo big! I could neeever finish these..."

Advancement wasn't possible due to the two girls exploring around.

"These two are like little kids," Noire commented. "You can't take them anywhere without them poking around somewhere."

"Although you're right, you still end up following them," Blanc stated.

"Shut up!"

"Hey! Plutie, look!" Neptune pointed to another nearby store. "It's a game shop!"

"Oooh...! We should gooo..." Plutia suggested.

"Yeah! Let's go!" Neptune shouted.

"Not so fast you two," I grabbed them by the back of their outfits. "We didn't come here to play. We came here to visit the Basilicom and meet the CPU."

Noire nodded. "Yeah, he's right. Now, let's go."

Neptune and Plutia slumped over and let out groans. "Fiiine..."

* * *

"Um..."

"T-This is..."

"Wooow... There are sooo many toys...!"

I nodded. "Yeah, this seems about right."

Neptune sighed. "I guess this one is just like the one from our dimension."

We were now in the Basilicom. A staff member had led us to the CPU's room and had told us to wait.

There was a brown vinyl flooring, a white coffee table sat on top of a green carpet and a pair of green, bergere chairs were parked into the table. There were green curtains draped over the windows, there were shelves filled with anime figures, video games along with game consoles, and there were posters and paintings hung up with more anime. Lastly, there was a mansard coffee brown roof with a glass chandelier hanging from the roof's center.

"What the hell is this!?" Blanc roared. "What kind of a CPU is this!? I want to see this so-called CPU right now!"

"Yeah! Is this some kind of joke!?" Noire questioned.

"Woow... These posters are sooo weird..." Plutia commented as she stared at the walls.

"Well, at least Noire and Blanc are finally agreeing on something," Neptune remarked.

I nodded. "You don't see that everyday."

"Well, it seems you all are admiring my room," a voice called out.

We turned to the door. "Wait, that voice is..."

"Yes, good to see you all again," Vert said coming out from her hiding.

"You're...Vert!" Noire stated.

"D-Don't tell me that...you're the CPU!?" Blanc questioned.

"Knew it," I smirked.

"Oh no. No way. How could this be? This doesn't make sense. No logic. I'm so shocked," Neptune stated in a monotone voice.

"I see that you and the boy still aren't shocked by who I am," Vert told Neptune. "As for the others, I am the CPU. I guess I should formally introduce myself," she bowed to us. "I'm Vert, CPU of Leanbox."

"Okay, but why'd you go out of your way to invite us to your Basilicom? There's been no traps thus far. Are you really THAT confident?" Noire questioned.

"Wait, does that mean that the time you spent in Lowee was used to spy on us?" Blanc asked.

"Yes," Vert nodded. "To be honest though, I didn't think you all were smart enough to figure that out. I thought you all were quite dumb."

Noire and Blanc gritted their teeth. "The only idiots in this group are those two!" They chorused as they jabbed their fingers towards Neptune and Plutia.

"Heeey... Why is this poster have two naked boys?" Plutia asked as she stared at the poster in curiosity.

"Yeah, let's not talk about that," I suggested as I covered Plutia's eyes and turned her away from the poster before uncovering her eyes.

"So, what did you call us out here for?" Noire asked. "To say that we're stupid?"

Vert shook her head. "Not really. I just wanted to "observe" my competition," Vert said as she began staring at the girls' chests.

She stared at Noire's bosom "Huh? What're you looking at?"

Vert shrugged at Noire's question. "This one seems average," she turned to her gaze towards the other girls. "Them however..."

Neptune cocked her head at Vert. "Huh? Is there a monster or something on my chest?"

"This one makes it look like there are two bruises on her chest," Vert muttered.

"As for you," she observed Blanc. "I've seen lines with more bumps."

"…!" Blanc's eye twitched. "W-What the hell did you just say?!"

"This one..." Vert ignored Blanc's question and stared at Plutia's chest. "A board has more bumps than this..."

"Don't staaare...! I don't like it..." Plutia said as she stared back at Vert's ample bosom. "I'll just stare back..."

"Heh," Vert smirked. "It seems my so-called competition isn't such a threat after all."

"What did you just say!?" Blanc balled up a fist.

"Well, seeing as only one is average, two are below average and one is just completely hopeless, I don't think I have anything to worry about," Vert jabbed.

"Who the hell are you calling "below average?!" Blanc shouted.

*Ching!*

She transformed and lunged herself at Vert. "I'm gonna beat your fucking ass, you bitch!"

Neptune, Noire and I held Blanc back. "Hey! There's no need to get violent yet! She just insulted your chest, just take the hit and move on!" I advised.

"Do you want to get your ass kicked too!?"

Vert giggled. "Well, I hadn't even said anything yet. But I guess you already know what your size is. It's pretty sad too. You don't even grow with HDD."

"You damn bitch!" We pinned Blanc to a wall to restrain her.

Vert sighed. "It doesn't matter anyways. Once my new hardware is released, you will all lose your shares. All of this will even be done without any barbaric methods like fighting," Vert then began walking towards the room's exit. "I hope you all are ready for your demise."

*Click!*

She clicked the door closed and left us alone in her room. "Damnit," Blanc cursed. "What do we do now?"

"The solution is simple," Noire stated. "We just have to make our hardware so great, that they won't even know about Leabox's new hardware."

The girls nodded. "Well, since I see no point in being in this damn place any longer, let's head back," Blanc suggested.

And with that, we left the room...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Chapter done! I hope you all are enjoying Steam sales right now, if you're participating. I spent a bit on the sales, but I'm saving my money for Megadimension. Also, sorry for the really late upload. I was busy with work and came home really tired, causing me to almost forget. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **-Participate on the poll on my page! Poll submissions end August!-**


	82. Chapter 82

Chapter 82

"We're home!" Neptune chimed as she kicked the door open.

"Hoome plaate...!" Plutia also chimed.

"We're home!" I called out.

"Thank goodness you all are back!" Mini-Histoire let out a relieved sigh. "We have an emergency! (((( ;°Д°))))"

"An emergency?" Neptune wondered. "What do you mean?"

"It's Nepgear. She's...well...um...(・.・)ゞ" Mini-Histoire pointed towards Nepgear, who was in a fetal position. "Just take a look for yourself."

We slowly approached Nepgear. Upon getting close enough, we began to hear her murmur to herself. "First I get separated from Neptune for years, then she disappears to a land far away and takes Silver with her and then, even though I reunited with them, they still left me..." Nepgear sniffled. "What good am I?"

"Oh geez..." Neptune scratched her head. "What do we do, Silver?"

I puffed out a breath. "I don't know..."

The babies and Hikan sat watching her, as if she were reading them a story. I looked over at Hikan. "Hey, why is she crying? Didn't you try to comfort her?"

Hikan sighed. "I already tried. But it's like she's stuck in her own little world."

"Hey, stahp cwying!" Baby IF told Nepgear.

"It's ohkay. Pat-pat!" Baby Compa patted Nepgear's back.

"Pat! Pat!" Baby Peashy patted Nepgear's knee.

"Neptune, Silver. This is due to the lack of time you spent with Nepgear,（´＿｀）" Mini-Histoire explained.

I spun my head to Mini-Histoire. "But I promised to come back!" I protested.

"Yeah! I promised too!" Neptune agreed.

I sighed. "Let's just talk with Nepgear."

I tapped on her shoulder and leaned close to her ear. "Hey, how are you?"

"Oh...hey Silver..." Nepgear greeted monotonely as her eyes drifted to me. "I guess you're finally back?"

I nodded. "Yup, what do you want to do?"

She pointed towards Neptune. "Not be around an unreliable older sister," Nepgear answered.

"Hey! I tried to be a good sister!" Neptune protested.

"Really? Where's my souvenir?" Nepgear asked Neptune. "You promised me a souvenir."

Neptune laughed dryly. "Hahaha... I might not have brought one," she stated. She looked over at Plutia. "Plutie, you got anything?"

Plutia shook her head. "Noope...!"

Nepgear slumped over and buried her face into her knees. "I really don't have a reliable sister, do I?"

Neptune sighed. "Well, I'm out of options," she announced. "Got any of those brilliant ideas, Silver?"

I shrugged. "I guess I have one."

Neptune's eyes lit up. "Really? Then hurry up and do it!"

I nudged at Nepgear's shoulder. "Hey, Nepgear."

She looked up at me. "Yes...?"

"You want to use that deal now?" I asked.

Nepgear nodded silently. "Yes..."

I smiled and kissed her cheek. "Good. Then let's go."

As I pulled Nepgear to her feet, a text box popped up right in front of us.

 **Nepgear has mastered the "negativity" ability.**

Nepgear's eyes widened. "What the goodness is this?!"

Neptune grinned. "Good job, Nep Jr.. While I've been off being the main character, you've been off getting awesome, useless abilities! Good job, sis 'o mine!"

"That's not true at all!" Nepgear argued.

"Say, what are these things anyways?" Neptune asked, peering closely at the text box.

 _Good question, Neptune. These text boxes appear once Nepgear has learned a useless ability. These boxes don't affect her stats or the story in any way and are absolutely, completely useless._

"Woah, that's so cool," Neptune commented.

I nodded. "I see..." I turned to Nepgear. "Well, just don't worry about that for now and let's just go do something, alright?"

"O-Okay..." Nepgear nodded timidly and we walked out the door together.

"Bye! Don't stay up past curfew!" Neptune called out.

* * *

*Chirp!* *Chirp!*

"Mmm... This is nice," Nepgear commented as she laid down onto the soft green grass. "It's so pretty here and it's just the two of us."

I nodded as I began playing with her hair. "It is. But I'm just glad to be back with you again. It's been years since I've actually been beside you."

Nepgear let out a giggle. "Ehehe... I'm glad to be with you too. I missed you so much and had sulked for days, thinking about nothing but you and Neptune."

I laid down beside Nepgear and we intertwined our hands. "Well, I'm here with you now. So, don't worry. We can spend as much time as we want together."

Nepgear glanced down at our intertwined hands. "Yeah..."

Nepgear and I had decided to go somewhere quite. So, we walked around to a forest for a while until we discovered a clearing with a lake. So, we decided to just sit together with the nature.

I watched her expression. "What's wrong? You seemed to be bothered by something."

"Well..." Nepgear smiled dryly at me. "It's just that I'm not a CPU anymore and I'm going to age..."

"What's the problem with that?" I questioned.

She turned to look at the clouds. "It's just that I won't always remain as myself if I do age, and I don't know how I feel about that..."

I sighed and squeezed her hand, grabbing her attention. "Do you really think that matters to me?" I asked. "I care about who you are as a person. Not how you look. I could care less about how ugly you look, I love you for you."

"Silver..." Nepgear's cheeks reddened and she squeezed back while tears welled up in her eyes. "I-I...*sniff*….I feel...*hic*….the same way about you too..."

I smiled warmly at her, brushing away her tears. "It's true that I wasn't there for you because I was sent here. But, I can tell you one thing that's true."

"W-What...*sniff*…. What is it?" Nepgear asked.

I pulled her into a tight embrace and leaned in close to her ear. I whispered, "I love you..."

"…!"

Nepgear pulled me even closer to her, allowing me to feel her soft and warm body. "I-I do too! A-And...*hic*….I don't want to ever let you go!"

I felt her tears soak my jacket, but I didn't mind. "As long as you're here, I'm happy. You've given me so much and all I can do is love you back..."

"T-That's...*sniff*… That's fine! I don't care if you can't pay me back. As long as...*hic*… As long as I have you with me...*sniff*...t-that's all I need!" Nepgear reassured me.

I gently pushed her chin up, causing her to face me. "Then I'm glad..."

She nodded and used her sleeve to wipe her tears away. "M-Me too..."

I felt my heart racing as the sun began to set, the lake was shimmering and the sunlight was reflecting off her. In that moment, she truly looked beautiful. "Hey...Nepgear..." I leaned her head close to mine.

I gazed deep into her lustful eyes as she drew closer and closer. "I...love you..."

"Mmgh..." As I whispered those last three words, our lips made contact and I felt the blood rush to my head, I felt the warm, sweet and soft sensation that made me lust for her more. "Mmn...*smack*….ah...fwah...*smack*….mmgh...mmn...ha..."

After exchanging kiss after kiss for a while, we separated, both our breaths were hot and ragged. I pulled her close to my body. "I really do love you, you know that, right?"

Nepgear, flustered, nodded. "Mhm. I know..."

I smiled. "Then I guess I must've said it enough times," I said.

Nepgear let out a giggle. "Maybe... Or maybe you didn't say it enough times."

I chuckled at this. "Doesn't matter. I feel like I got my message across," I pushed myself up, pulling Nepgear along with me. "So, what do you say we go have some place else?"

Nepgear nodded. "Sure!"

We left the lake with our intertwined hands...

* * *

"Hm?" Nepgear turned her head to face mine. "Silver, is this an ice cream parlor?"

I nodded. "Yup. I felt like having some ice cream. Do you want some or do you want to go somewhere else?" I asked.

Nepgear shook her head. "No, it's fine. I like ice cream too."

"Alright," I held the door open for her. "Do you want to share one or get separate ones?"

"I'd rather share," Nepgear said as she walked through the door. I followed close behind her and we approached a lady at the stand.

She smiled at us. "Hello, what would you two like?"

I nudged Nepgear's shoulder. "It's your choice. I'm buying."

Nepgear nodded. "Okay," she turned to face the lady waiting on us. "Um, I'd like to share a banana split him." Nepgear said, pointing towards me in the process.

The lady nodded. "Alright. What size would you like?"

"Large," I said.

The lady nodded. "Alright, and would you two like any extra toppings on your banana split?"

Nepgear shrugged. "What kind of toppings are there?"

"Here," the lady slid Nepgear a lamented slip of paper displaying all the possible topping choices.

"Thank you," Nepgear took the paper and looked at me. "What toppings do you want?"

"Hmm..." I peered over her shoulder to look at the paper. "How about these two?" I pointed at two of the many toppings.

"Huh?" Nepgear glanced at the two toppings. She smiled upon realizing what the toppings were. "Yeah, I like those toppings too."

She returned the lamented paper back to the lady and pointed at her two desired toppings. "I'll take these two."

The lady cast the two toppings a glance before nodding and tapping on her computer screen a few times. She printed us a receipt and handed it to me. "Would you like to pay now or later, sir?"

I took the receipt and glanced at the total. I shrugged. "I guess I'll pay now," I said as I produced the desired amount of Credits for the lady. "There you go. Keep the change."

The lady nodded and smiled. "Thank you. Your sundae should be done in a few minutes. Just take a seat anywhere and we'll bring it out to you two."

We nodded and sat down at a nearby booth by a wall. I let Nepgear in before I took my seat beside her and removed my jacket.

"Silver," Nepgear tapped on my shoulder. "Do you know what time it is?"

I glanced over at a nearby clock hanging from the wall. "It's an hour before midnight,"' I said. "So we have an hour left before we have to return home."

Nepgear nodded. "Alright."

*Clink!*

A different lady approached us and placed our sundae down in between us. Then she handed us two plastic spoons. "There you two go. Would you two like anything else?"

We shook our heads and the lady left us to eat.

"Wow, this looks delicious!" Nepgear commented as she picked up her spoon. "And it looks adorable too!"

I let out a chuckle. "You're welcome."

The vanilla ice cream was in multiple large scoops with sliced bananas, chocolate syrup, whip cream and some strawberries placed on the edges of the ice cream. There were also extra toppings of marshmallow bunnies and robot-shaped gummies. All of this sat on top of a large, transparent bowl.

"Hey, why'd you order so much?" Nepgear asked. "Can we really finish all this ice cream?"

I let out a chuckle. "If we can, that'd be great. But some of this is meant for Neptune."

Nepgear smiled at this. "That's sweet of you."

I shrugged. "I guess..."

"Anyways," Nepgear scooted close to the sundae. "How about we eat now?"

I nodded. "Sure."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Chapter completed! So, if some of you are getting Megadimension for the PC, it will be released on July the fifth. I'll leave for vacation on the second of July and I should return on the fourth. Summer school has ended and I'll upload three chapters a week until I get enough time. I should start uploading my old schedule of four chapters a few weeks after I get back from my vacation, but no promises. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **-Go vote on the poll on my page! Entry will be accepted until** **August!-**


	83. Chapter 83

Chapter 83

"Well, I hope Neptune likes ice cream in the morning," I prayed as I stared at the bucket filled with ice cream. "There's got to at least be two quarts left in here."

Nepgear laughed dryly. "I guess we couldn't finish it."

I let out a chuckle as we rounded a corner. "Yeah. I didn't know a large ice cream would be three quarts of it. We could barely even finish one."

Nepgear giggled. "We didn't finish, but it was fun to share food with you."

I turned to her and caressed her cheek. "I'm so glad that you're my girlfriend."

Nepgear blushed a bit and let out a giggle. "Ehehe... I'm glad you're my boyfriend."

"Yeah..." We entered the Basilicom and I glanced at a nearby clock. "Look, we made it back with ten minutes left to spare."

Nepgear smiled. "That's good. We didn't stay up as late as last time, did we?"

I shook my head. "Nope. Our last date was a really long night."

* * *

"Yo! We're home!" I called out as I entered the living room area.

"I'm home!" Nepgear also called out.

Upon hearing our voices, Neptune walked out of Plutia's room to greet us. "Oh hey. Why are you two back so soon?" She questioned before pointing to the bucket of ice cream. "And what's in that bucket?"

I pointed to the clock hanging over the TV. "Well, we made it back before curfew," I walked towards the kitchen and placed the bucket of ice cream into the refrigerator. "And this bucket is filled with ice cream. What's in that bucket is all yours."

Neptune's eyes began to sparkle. "Really?! Wow! Thanks you two!" Neptune thanked as she dashed towards the fridge.

Nepgear and I laughed at Neptune's scramble for the ice cream before we took a seat on the couch. I turned to her and gave her a serious look. "Hey, Nepgear," I squeezed her hand. "I have something important to tell you..."

She cocked her head at me. "Huh? What is it?"

I laughed dryly. "You won't like hearing this, but if I don't tell you now, it will hurt more in the future when it actually happens."

"U-Um, okay," Nepgear squeezed even harder on my hand. "I-I'll listen..."

* * *

About half an hour had passed since we returned home. Neptune had eaten about a pint of ice cream before heading off to bed and I had just told Nepgear about _that_.

"*Sniff*….Are you sure you'll be alright?" Nepgear asked, her face buried in my chest. "I-I don't want _that_ to happen to you."

I patted her head. "I know. I don't want it to happen either," I agreed. "But this was the path I chose and I still have to walk it until the very end..."

"B-But—"

I cut her off. "Don't worry. I promise everything will turn out alright. Even if it seems like I'm gone, I'll still be there. So, you don't have to worry about me. When the time comes, I want you to do what's right," I told. "Don't worry about me and just do what's right. I would rather have that than to live knowing you died."

Nepgear turned up to me and nodded. "A-Alright...*sniff*…" She wrapped her arms tightly around me. "B-But...*sniff*...no matter what...*hic*….I...*sniff*….I'll always love you..."

I nodded. "I do too. You're one of the reasons I've gotten this far."

Nepgear smiled meekly. "Then...*sniff*….at least promise you'll return..."

I nodded. "I promise..."

And that, was a promise I intended to keep...

* * *

 **Hikan's POV**

"Wait, so you're telling me there's another version of me?" Blanc asked. "One that you're dating, one that has sisters and one that likes snow?"

I nodded. "Yeah. That's about it. Why? Is there something wrong with that?"

Blanc shuddered. "It's just so weird to think about..."

"What's weird about it?" I asked.

"Well, it's weird to think that I dated someone and that I have little sisters," Blanc explained. "I don't think I could handle sisters or dating anyone."

I nodded. "I can understand that."

After a good night's rest, I was with Blanc in her living quarters, having casual conversation while sipping on some black tea.

Blanc's room here, in the Ultradimension, was quite different from the one in our dimension, the Hyperdimension. It was a spacious room with green tatami mats, the walls had designs painted with watercolor and there were some red and white rice paper dividers. There were two large red rice-paper-made dividers that divided the room into two parts. One side had a Japanese-styled tea table with a few cushions around and a tea set resting atop the table. The other side didn't really have much. It was just an open area with a set of windows on the sides. Also, the roof had circular-shaped, gold-gilded aesthetics attached to the ceiling.

Blanc flashed me a small smile. "Of course, I don't have anything against you. It's just that dating and sisters don't seem like things I could handle."

I let out a small laugh. "That's fine. Can we at least be friends?" I asked.

Blanc thought for a moment before shrugging. "Sure. You don't seem that bad. You kind of remind me of Silver."

I cocked my head. "You're already acquainted with him?"

Blanc nodded. "Yes, he saved me once from my backstabbing guards, even though he was outnumbered. I'm very grateful to him."

I burst out laughing. "Hahaha! That really does sound like something Silver would do."

"Are you two close?" Blanc asked curiously.

I nodded. "We're pretty good friends. We both share pretty similar goals and we both look out for our friends. I like to think he's a good person."

Blanc nodded. "He is. I wish that there were more people like you and Silver around."

I nodded and took a sip of my tea. "Well, we'll always try to be there to help you all out."

I finished the last of my tea and got to my feet. Blanc cocked her head at me. "Are you leaving so soon?"

I shook my head. "No, I just wanted to go somewhere else with you. You wanna get some sushi or something?"

Blanc smiled and nodded. "Sure."

She rose to her feet, we cleaned up the tea table and the two of us headed out to get some sushi.

* * *

"Well, I honestly didn't imagine eating here," Blanc commented as she popped a bit of rice into her mouth.

I took another swig from my cup and tasted the green tea. I actually found it kind of weird that I had just finished drinking tea just to come have some sushi with some more tea. "I don't know what you find so strange about it," I said. "I actually find it kind of relaxing."

Blanc sighed. "I guess. But I've just never eaten in a place like this. Usually, I would at least sit on a bench, but I would never stand and eat. It's not good for you anyways."

I chuckled. "It's always good to try new things."

Blanc and I had gone out and had gotten sushi from a sushi bar. Since it was too crowded to eat there, Blanc and I had decided to find somewhere else to eat. We eventually stumbled upon a bridge over a river. Blanc had suggested that we find a nearby bench to eat at, but I decided to eat by the bridge's railing. I had always found it soothing, listening to the sound of the river flowing while I quietly ate. At first, Blanc had refused to eat with me at the railings, but after enough time, she joined me to eat at the railings.

"Still, I'm not used to this," Blanc stated. "Why couldn't we just do something like eat on a bench or on the grass or something?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. That's just too plain," I turned and grinned at Blanc. "I mean, you're free to eat at a bench or somewhere. But you'll just be as lonely as Noire."

Upon mentioning Noire, Blanc gritted her teeth and glared at me. "Oh, I am nothing like that damn newbie of a CPU!" Blanc yelled as a shadow cast over her eyes, leaving only a gleam of red glowing in her eyes.

I smiled. "Yeah, yeah. Sorry," I put a hand her shoulder. "Look, it was just a joke, alright? There's no need to get angry. Look, I'm sorry, okay?"

Blanc puffed out her cheeks before crossing her arms and turning away from me. "I-I'll accept your apology this time..."

*Plip!*

"Ah..." Blanc leaned over the railing to see her bento fall into the river, get caught in the stream and flow away. "Dang it..."

I sighed and offered the rest of my bento box to her. "Do you want the rest of my sushi?" I asked.

"Huh?" Blanc glanced over at me and blushed a bit. "What the hell are you saying?! You already ate off that anyways and, if I do eat from yours, it'll look weird!"

*Grrr...*

"Ugh..." Blanc clutched her growling stomach.

I sighed. "If you really don't want it, then I can go buy you another one. Either way, I'm not going to let you starve."

"Mmgh..." Blanc squirmed around and stared greedily at my bento box. "Fine...I'll...take your bento..." She mumbled.

I smiled as I handed her the bento. "See? That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"I guess not..." Blanc said. "But don't you want to finish eating your food?"

"I'd rather let you go from starving," I said. "Plus, I've dealt with worse before."

Blanc smiled meekly. "Thanks."

"…"

"…"

Blanc quietly ate the bento box while I leaned my back against the railing and stared up towards the clouds. "Man, this place sure is different from the Lowee from my dimension."

Blanc cocked her head. "How so?" She asked as she chewed on her sushi.

I turned to her. "Well, for starters, you wear different clothes compared to the Blanc of my dimension," I pointed towards the buildings. "This place has a Japanese theme while the other Lowee has a winter theme."

Blanc took a sip from her tea. "Yeah, yeah. I get it. Now, can I ask you a question?"

I shrugged. "Sure, why not? Go ahead."

Blanc nodded. "Okay. If you're dating the other me, then why haven't you tried to date the me here?" She asked with curiosity.

I let out a laugh. "Heh, if that's your question, then this will be an easy one," I remarked. "To put it simple, you know what incest is, right?"

Blanc nodded.

"Well, not only will I technically be dating two people at once, but you two are related in a way. So, if I also dated you, it would feel like incest to me. Plus, I only stick to one girl. I don't cheat on them"

Blanc nodded. "I see..."

"Does it sound weird?" I wondered.

Blanc gave a small chuckle. "Yeah, it sounds really weird. Then again, Neptune's weirder."

"Ditto," I agreed.

Once we finished our small talk, Blanc—who had just finished the bento—closed the bento box's lid and tossed it into the trash can. She flashed me a meek smile. "Thanks for letting me have your bento. I probably wouldn't have been able to survive the rest of the day without eating."

I nodded. "Well, I don't want you to starve," I stretched myself. "So, are you ready to head back to your Basilicom?"

She nodded. "Sure."

So, we tossed away the rest of our trash and the two of us began our walk back to Lowee's Basilicom...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And here's another chapter! There will be one more filler chapter before we return to the main story. Also, I won't be uploading next week because I'm going on a vacation to California. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **-Vote on the poll on my page! Submissions will be accepted until August!-**


	84. Chapter 84

Chapter 84

"Ah! This is so nice!" Neptune let the sunlight shine down on her. "C'mon guys, hurry up!"

"Shut up! We aren't as energetic as you!" Noire stated.

"I'd rather read," Blanc mumbled as she continued walking and reading.

"I'd rather naaap..." Plutia mumbled as she snuggled with my back.

I sighed. "But why do I have to carry you?"

"Because you're back feels sooo nice..." Plutia said with a wide grin.

Hikan and Nepgear watched Plutia and I. "Hey Nepgear," Hikan nudged at Nepgear. "If you're not careful, Plutia might steal your boyfriend away from you."

"What the goodness!?" Nepgear clung to my arm. "Silver! Please tell me that's not true!" She whimpered.

Hikan and I let out a laugh. "Relax, it's just a joke," I reassured her. "I would never cheat on you."

"R-Really?" Nepgear glanced up at me with timid eyes.

I nodded. "Really."

"Aww... But I want to play with Silver too..." Plutia quietly pouted.

I sighed. "Man, what have I gotten myself into," I wondered.

The seven of us had decided to go out and play. Mini-Histoire had offered to watch the babies while we were out. Originally, we had planned to have a picnic, but Neptune had dropped the basket into a river, losing it. So instead, we had decided to just go somewhere nice and play. In the end, we ended up in a valley of green hills.

Hikan glanced up towards the sky. "Man, it's a beautiful day for a picnic," Hikan stated. "Hey, Neptune. Why don't we a picnic? Oh, wait..."

"Yeah, yeah. Shut up," Neptune grumbled as she crossed her arms.

"It's fine," I pointed towards a lake off to the distance. "We can fish for some food."

Hikan shrugged. "I guess. But that picnic sounded really appetizing."

"Whatever," Neptune plopped down on a hilltop. "I'll nap here until you get my food."

Hikan and I looked at each other. "Has she always been like this?" I asked.

Hikan shrugged. "More or less."

"Well," I set Plutia down beside Neptune to let Plutia continue her nap while Blanc sat down beside them and quietly continued reading her book. "Let's go get some fish."

"See you later," Nepgear waved at us. "I'll watch Neptune and Plutia."

I nodded and we began our walk to the lake.

"Wait," Noire called out. "We don't have any fishing rods."

I grinned. "You two worry too much. Just leave everything to me."

"Woah!"

I materialized three fishing rods. "See? Problem solved."

Noire stared curiously at the fishing rod. "I-I guess. But I've never fished before."

I smiled as we approached the lake. "You don't have to worry about that either. Watch this," I cast my rod's line into the lake.

*Plip!*

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…. Um, what're we waiting for?" Noire asked.

"This."

*Splash!*

Suddenly, the line pulled itself up, pulling a fish with it. I snatched the fish and detached it from the hook. "See?"

Hikan and Noire stared at me with open jaws. "How did you do that?!" The two of them asked.

I let out a laugh. "I made these rods special. They can catch the fish themselves. All we have to do is grab the fish when they come up."

"Alright," Hikan setup his rod and sat down on the grass. "I'm down."

"I guess I can deal with this," Noire said as she joined the two of us. "But how are we going to cook the fish?"

I smiled. "I'll show you later."

"That's kind of scary," Hikan commented.

I shrugged. "Maybe, but I'm not lying."

* * *

*Plop!*

I tossed yet another fish down to the pile and sighed. "Alright. Do you guys think this will be enough?" I asked, staring at the pile of fish.

Noire sighed. "I think this will be more than enough."

After spending around an hour catching fish, we had accumulated a large pile filled with dozens of fish.

"Well, even if we do have enough fish, how are we going to cook and carry them up the hills?" Hikan asked.

"Oh, WE aren't going to," I said.

The two of them cocked their heads and cast me curious looks. "What do you mean?"

"Watch," I said as I pulsed out some energy.

*Fwsh!* *Crackle!* *Crackle!* *Fshhh...*

I pulsed out a ball of energy and it engulfed the pile of fish. After some smoking, the energy faded away and there now sat a pile of grilled fish.

Noire spun towards me. "How'd you do that!?"

I pulsed out another ball of energy and showed it to Noire. "I can manipulate and command this energy to do what I want it to."

"Wow," Noire stared at the ball in awe. "That's amazing..."

I let the energy dissolve. "I guess."

"Oh yeah," Hikan pointed towards the fish. "How are we going to take these fish back up?"

I grinned and pulsed out some more energy. The energy morphed into a box and sucked the grilled fish into it. "We'll carry them up there in the this box."

"I guess that could work," Noire said.

Hikan nodded. "Yeah."

I picked up the box and we all walked back up the hill. "Silver, you must really love those Devil powers you have," Hikan stated.

I chuckled. "Not really. They're good, sure. But they can become risky to use and can come with a large strain," I explained. "I've just figured out how to manage and control them."

"Well, they're still really useful," Noire commented.

I looked up towards the sky. "I guess so..."

"Hey, you're all back!" Nepgear ran towards us.

I smiled. "Heya," I cocked my head and looked past Nepgear. "Um, where's Neptune and Plutia?"

"Oh," Nepgear quickly dashed down the hill and dragged them both back up. "I guess they rolled down the hill earlier."

"Why didn't you carry them back up with you earlier?" Hikan asked.

"W-Well, I actually didn't notice that they rolled down until you pointed it out," Nepgear stated.

I sighed. "You really are a strange girl..." I set down the box of fish and patted her head. "But that's why I love you so much."

Nepgear blushed a bit and let out a giggle. "Ehehehe... Aww, you're so sweet."

I smiled. "Again, that's just my honesty."

"Hey, you two," I shook Neptune and Plutia, who were clinging to each other and napping. "Wake up. I got food ready."

"Really!?" At the word 'food', Neptune's eyes snapped open and she sprang up. "Where!? Where!?"

I materialized a large cutting board and placed all the fish onto the board. Then, I pulsed out two more balls of energy and commanded them to dice and remove the bones from the fish.

*Ching!* *Shk!* *Shwing!* *Chop!*

Suddenly, the energy morphed into knives and began chopping away at the fish, slicing them into many bit-sized pieces of meat. As the last of the fish were cut up, the board and knives disappeared and I materialized a large plate beneath the fish, causing all the fish to land onto the plate.

I picked up the plate and offered it to Neptune. "Here? You want some fish?"

"Ooh... It smells good!" Neptune picked out a piece and examined it. "Does it taste good?'

I shrugged. "It's all personal preference. I don't even know what it tastes like."

"Hmmm..." Neptune grinned. "Oh well! Bottoms up!" She tossed the piece of fish into her mouth. "…!" Her eyes widened.

"Huh?" We all stared at Neptune curiously. "What's wrong?"

Neptune swallowed the bit of fish. "This..." Neptune formed a wide grinned. "THIS IS DELICIOUS!"

"Really?" Noire, Nepgear and Hikan all picked up a piece of fish and plopped it into their mouths. Their eyes widened and they formed wide smiles. "THIS IS AMAZING!"

"Is it?" I set the plate down on the box. "How about I give it a try?" I picked up a piece and popped it into my mouth. "….Yeah, this tastes pretty good."

"Really?" Neptune looked at me sadly. "I thought you would have more of a reaction."

I smiled wryly. "Nah."

"Oh well," Hikan sighed. "Can you materialize another plate?"

"Sure," I pulsed out some more energy and formed a small plate, handing it to Hikan. "Here."

"Thanks," Hikan put several pieces of fish onto the plate and walked towards Blanc, who was still reading. I watched as Hikan offered her some fish.

I sighed. "Well, it seems as though we'll be eating fish for the rest of the time we're here."

"Hey, at least it's good fish," Neptune stated.

"I guess..." I smiled wryly. "Let's just enjoy the time we have here."

* * *

"Well, that was fun," I sighed. "And also pretty brutal," I massaged my body.

Nepgear rubbed my sore back. "It's alright," she offered me her snow cone. "Do you at least want some of my snow cone?"

I smiled back at her and shook my head. "Thanks Nepgear, but I'm not really in the mood for snow cones."

Nepgear smiled dryly. "Okay..."

After we had finished all the grilled fish, I was forced to play with Neptune and Plutia. To summarize it, I was injured really badly and ended up sore. After that, we had gone out for snow cones and I was forced to pay. Now, we were walking back to Planeptune's Basilicom.

"Cheer up, Silver!" Neptune said. "You pleased five cute girls today! You should be happy right now!"

I glanced over at Neptune. "Girl, you really need to work on the way you talk."

Neptune shook her head. "Nope! This is how I'll always talk!"

I sighed. "Whatever..."

"Thanks for the snow cones though," Noire thanked as she ate at her's.

I smiled at her. "Don't mention it."

Blanc closed the book she had been reading all day. "It's been fun and all with all of you, but shouldn't we be increasing our shares?"

We all turned our attention to Blanc. "Yeah, we should," Noire agreed. "We can't have that Leanbox CPU beat us and steal our followers."

Hikan and I nodded. "Yeah, we can't let Leanbox steal Planeptune's shares. We need to keep increasing our shares to get home. So, we'll see you all later," Hikan said.

"Bye!" The girls all waved each other goodbye and we left for our respected nations...

* * *

 _I sighed. "Well, looks like I'm back here again..."_

 _"Yes, you are..." The familiar voice confirmed._

 _The silhouette of the Darkness appeared again. "I can't believe I'm back here again," I muttered._

 _The Darkness let out a laugh. "Hahaha! You really think you wouldn't see me again? C'mon, admit it. You love me."_

 _I gritted my teeth. "That's a lie. You know I hate you."_

 _"Awww... That makes me pretty sad," the Darkness let out a sigh. "Oh well. You won't have a choice pretty soon."_

 _I shook my head. "No, I'll stop_ _ **that**_ _from happening. You won't win. I'll emerge victorious."_

 _The Darkness laughed manically. "When the time comes, I'll like to see you try. You can't win. If you want to win, then you'll have to be way stronger than you are now. Beating me isn't possible with the way you are now."_

 _I sighed. "That may be true, but I'll find a different way without violence or killing. I won't become what you are."_

 _"Oh? I believe that won't be that easy. You remember your past, don't you? You know that once you do something, it'll be hard to stop, don't you?"_

 _I shook my head. "I'll stop. You'll see."_

 _The Darkness sneered. "Well, until the time comes, I'll just watch over you and let you prepare yourself."_

 _Leaving me with those words, my vision began to fade to black..._

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Chapter is done! This will be the last chapter of filler for now. Also, I've returned, so there will now be uploads again! Anyways, I hope you all are enjoying Megadimension Neptunia for all you PC users that bought it. If any of you want to add me on Steam, just PM me. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **-Go check out the poll on my page! It'd really help if you filled it out! Also, poll submissions end in August!-**


	85. Chapter 85

Chapter 85

"Okay," Nepgear set the tea set down onto the table. "The tea is now ready!"

"Alright!" Hikan quickly grabbed a tea cup and poured tea into his cup. "I love tea!"

Noire nodded and poured tea into her cup as well. "Yes," she took a sip from her cup. "I must say, Nepgear really is a good and responsible girl," Noire glanced Nepgear a dissapointed look. "Even though she did 'that'."

Blanc also took a sip from her tea cup. "Her tea making skills are really good. She can make good tea," Blanc also shot Nepgear a disappointed glance. "Even though she did 'that'."

Mini-Histoire nodded. "Yes, she is quite a diligent worker," Mini-Histoire also stared at Nepgear with the same disappointed expression. "Even though she did 'that'.(-.-)"

Nepgear let out a groan as we continued happily sipping on our tea. "I said that I was sorry!" She whined.

"It's fine, Nep Jr.," Neptune reassured. "People are now starting to see your good points! That makes your big sis proud that you're what I'm not!"

Hikan sighed. "Neptune, I don't think you should be admitting to something like that."

"Forget it," Noire set her tea cup back down. "We need to talk about business, so get serious."

Blanc mimicked Noire and also set down her tea cup. "Right, so it's been a week or so since we paid a visit to that Leanbox CPU," Blanc said. "How have all of your nation's shares been?"

"Nothing's changed in Lastation. The hardware got released recently and we asked our people to survey it's performance," Noire explained.

"How'd it end up?" Blanc asked.

"All of the surveys reported problems. Needless to say, I didn't lose any shares," Noire said, smiling triumphantly.

Blanc nodded. "Same for me. All of the people in my nation said that the controllers wee too bulky and the system would fail a lot," Blanc explained. "What about Planeptune?"

"Planeptune has also remained the same regarding shares, (￣ー￣)" Mini-Histoire stated.

"Woow...! Really...!?" Plutia asked.

"That's amazing! When'd you have the time to figure that out?" Neptune also asked.

Mini-Histoire facepalmed. "While you two were off playing, Nepgear, Silver and Hikan all helped me. （ー△ー；）"

Noire let out a laugh. "Man, you two are the worst CPUs ever! I've met bread smarter than you both combined!"

"Heeey... We're not dumb...!" Plutia argued.

Neptune nodded. "That's right! We can be helpful when we try!"

Blanc also turned her attention to them. "So you're telling me that neither of you are trying?"

"Nope!" The two Planeptune CPUs chorused.

I sighed. "Then what's even the point in you two being CPUs?"

"Oh! Oh! I know thiiis one...!" Plutia said. "It's to haave fun...!" She answered with a bright smile.

Hikan let out a chuckle. "Well, that's the closest those two are ever going to get to the right answer."

"Anyway," Noire smirked. "I guess that CPU of Leanbox really was just all talk."

"Yeah, I guess we all just got worried for nothing," Blanc added.

"See? This is why you should be more like me and Plutie!" Neptune said. "There's no worrying and everything always ends up fine!"

Nepgear cast her sister a disappointed glance. "Neptune, if everybody acted the way you did, nothing would get done."

"So? Nobody would be bothering me anymore!" Neptune stated.

"Neptune, I don't think you understand what you're saying," I said. "If nothing got done, then there would be nobody making pudding for you."

At this, Neptune's body tensed up. "N-No more...pudding..?"

While we watched Neptune mumble to herself, the door to Plutia's room burst open and Vert ran in. "You CPUs!"

"Huh? Why are you here!?" Blanc and Noire chorused.

"Wow! This Vert looks practically identical to the one in our dimension!" Nepgear stated. She waved at the Vert. "Hello, it's um, nice to meet you!"

However, Vert ignored Nepgear and walked up to the rest of us. "You all are truly scum! How dare you give my console a bad reputation!"

We all looked up at her. "We didn't talk shit about your dumbass console!" Blanc shouted. "It's just that nobody likes your console! It's not our fault that we can't control what people like and dislike!"

Noire nodded. "Yeah, and get your console fixed, because people are saying that the discs get scratched up too easily and that there's always a red ring that prevents them from playing!"

"Oh, could you also make it a bit smaller?" I asked. "It's too bulky."

Vert stared at us with a blank expression. "Wait, so none of you have spread rumors or anything about my console?"

We shook our heads. "Nope."

"But how is that possible?" Vert asked. "It's really popular in my nation."

"Like I said, we can't control what people like and dislike," Blanc repeated.

"But that's absolutely impossible!" Vert stated. "Bigger is always better, console or body!"

Blanc's eye twitched at this. "What the hell did you just say!?"

Hikan gulped. "Uh-oh."

*Ching!*

Blanc went HDD, her face was furious. "So you finally admit that this is all about your stupid, goddamn chest!?"

"Blanc, calm down!" I said as Hikan and I approached her.

But she pushed us away and got up in Vert's face. "Listen, if this is what it's about, then I've had enough of your shit! I'm going to beat the hell out of you right now!"

Vert's expression remained unchanged. "Oh? Well, if it's a battle you want, then I'll gladly accept your offer. But only on one condition."

"Yeah? And what's your condition, you bitch!?" Blanc snarled.

"If you wish to fight, then go to this forest here," Vert said tossing us a tablet with coordinates on it.

I caught it and examined the coordinates. "Wait, this is just a forest in YOUR nation!"

Vert nodded. "Yes, this is also where I'll be able to fight at my max, considering it's five against one."

"I guess that is fair," Noire agreed.

"I don't care how damn 'fair' it is!" Blanc continued. "I'll pummel her face anywhere!"

Vert sighed. "Well, if you do wish to challenge me, then come to the designated area," Vert said before walking out of the room.

I sighed. "Great, now we have to fight somebody on their own land."

Noire turned to Blanc. "Why'd you do that?! We just fell right into her trap because you made an irrational decision!"

Blanc heaved a sigh. "Sorry. The blood just went right up to my head."

*Ching!*

She deactivated HDD and frowned. "I'm going to go fight her. I don't really care if any of you come, but I'm going."

Neptune shrugged. "I kinda have to go. I need to get Nepgear and Hikan CPU Memories."

Nepgear smiled. "I'll go wherever sis and Silver go."

Plutia nodded. "If Neppy's going, then I'll go tooo..."

Hikan shrugged. "I guess I'm going too."

I nodded. "I was going to go anyways."

We all turned to Noire. "What!?"

"Are you coming or are you going to stay here?" Blanc asked.

"I mean, I guess I can go. I can't let you all run freely and cause chaos," Noire excused.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's just go!" Neptune shouted.

We all stampede out the door and set off for Leanbox once again.

* * *

We were now in the forest where Vert was.

"Look! There she is!" Neptune pointed towards the figure standing in ahead of us. "There's Vert!"

"Oh? I actually didn't expect you all to have shown up here," Vert said as we approached her. "If you hadn't, I would've told all of Gamindustri that the mighty CPUs chickened out and couldn't even beat one CPU."

"Shut up! You're full of it!" Blanc shouted.

*Ching!*

She reactivated HDD and glared at Vert. "I'll make sure I end your life!"

"Blanc, chill," Neptune told Blanc. "We're just here to fight, not kill anyone. It's not going to be like the plot of the last game where a certain somebody kills certain people in one of the endings," Neptune said, glancing over at Nepgear.

"Huh? Why are you looking at me?" Nepgear asked.

"Whatever, if we're going to fight, I might as well too," Noire said.

*Ching!*

Noire activated HDD and sighed. "We really don't seem like good people here, going around beating up CPUs."

"It doesn't matter! This is a battle of pride! We have to fight!" Vert protested.

I unsheathed my blade and got into a stance. "Well, I don't think you can win. It's seven against one."

"Seven?" She turned and noticed Nepgear and Hikan. "Oh, it looks like you have two more members in your party," Vert shrugged. "Oh well, this still shouldn't be a problem."

"Wait a second Vert!" Neptune shouted. "Do you have anymore of those CPU Memory things? I kind of need two."

Vert cocked her head. "Hm? Sure. But why do you need them?"

Neptune shrugged. "Well, blah-de-blah-de-blah."

"Yadde-yadda, this-and-that," Plutia continued.

"Are you two joking? There's no way she'd understand that," I claimed.

However, Vert nodded. "I see. So they're CPUs from another dimension that Neptune comes from, and they're not CPUs yet..."

My jaw fell open. "HOW THE HELL DID YOU UNDERSTAND THAT!?"

Blanc shrugged. "It's convenient though. We don't have to sit through a long, boring explanation."

I sighed. "I guess..."

Vert smiled brightly. "Well then," she produced two CPU Memories and offered them to Hikan and Nepgear. "Here, you two can take them."

"…" We all watched Vert suspiciously.

"What's the matter?" Vert asked. "I'm offering you the Memory Cores."

"Yeah, but why are you handing them over so eagerly," Noire asked.

"I know! Once they use them, she's going to make them offer her their bod!" Neptune suggested.

"Or maybe she'll try to convince them to be her siblings," I guessed.

Neptune let out a laugh. "There's no way that would happen! If this Vert is anything like the Vert in our dimension, then—" Neptune cut herself off and her eyes grew wide with terror. "Oh no..."

Vert frowned. "That is not the case! I'm simply being kind and handing them CPU Memories."

Hikan sighed. "Screw it. I'll take one," he said as he took one from Vert. "Thanks, I guess."

Nepgear squirmed around for a bit. "I guess I'll take one too," she said as she timidly took the CPU Memory.

"Go on and transform!" Plutia urged. "I want to see your cute HDD forms...!"

Hikan shrugged. "Whatever."

*Ching!*

"Hey, wait!" Nepgear called out.

*Ching!*

When the blinding white light cleared, Nepgear was back in her HDD and so was Hikan. Unlike the others, their HDD appearances didn't change. "Glad that worked," Hikan said as he examined myself. "It's good to be back in this form."

Nepgear smiled. "I did it! I'm back!"

Blanc smiled at them. "I'm glad you both did it. Otherwise, you would've been turned into hideous monsters."

Hikan and Nepgear spun their head's towards Blanc. "Really!? Why didn't you tell us this sooner?!" Nepgear asked.

Blanc shrugged. "Well, since I didn't tell you, you two weren't as nervous about using the items."

Vert smiled. "Good. I'm glad you both transformed correctly," Vert formed a wide grin. "But since you used MY items, you both are now part of my nation!"

"HUH!?"

"Wait, it doesn't work like that, does it?" I asked.

"If you use a CPU Memory founded in the nation, you pledge yourself to that nation," Vert explained.

"Wait, does that mean that I'm related to Plutia and Neptune?" Noire asked.

"No! I'm the only sister Plutie has!" Neptune argued.

"But we both picked up a CPU Memory at the same place!" Noire snapped back.

"But you left for Lastation!" Neptune continued.

"Hey, I don't think this is the best time to be arguing," I said pointing over to where Vert, Hikan and Nepgear stood. "You should probably be more concerned about that."

"Vert is my big sister now. I'm Vert's little sister," Nepgear chanted.

Hikan frowned. "Yeah, I'm definetly Vert's little brother," Hikan said in the most monotone voice.

"Whoa, Nepgear's totally convinced.," Noire stated.

Neptune and I facepalmed. "She caves in way too easily!"

"Hikan, why are you fighting with them?!" Blanc asked.

Hikan shrugged. "Actually I just wanted to fight Silver."

I grinned. "Really? If that's the case, I'm fine with these terms."

Neptune sighed. "Well, might as well join the fight."

*Ching!*

She went HDD and looked over at Plutia. "Plutie, I'll let you transform."

"Really? Yay!" Plutia grinned widely as the white light enveloped her.

*Ching!*

HDD Plutia appeared and she cast suggestive looks at Nepgear and Hikan. "Oh, you both are such naughty children for betraying us," Plutia licked her lips. "I'll make sure to punish you both real well."

Hikan gulped upon seeing Iris Heart. "Maybe I should've stayed on your side..."

"W-Wait! I didn't betray you!" Nepgear protested.

Suddenly, a text box appeared.

 **Nepgear has mastered the "Turncoat" ability.**

"Not another one!" Nepgear whined.

"Now, it's a more even match of three against five," Vert said.

*Ching!*

Vert activated her HDD form. Like everyone else, her HDD form was also different.

Her outfit design was the same as the one in Neptune's dimension except the white and gray colors were replaced with all black, the spikes were removed and had been replaced with small and circular neon green accessories.

Vert smirked. "Come! It's is time to fight!"

"You girls can fight Nepgear and Vert. I want Hikan all to myself," I sneered and activated Level Two. "I'm going to enjoy this."

*Bang!*

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And here's another chapter! I realize that I should just stick to one upload schedule in the future. So, in the future, the summer schedule will have three chapters while the school year will have four chapters. Also, sorry there was no chapter yesterday! I didn't have electricity, so I'll be uploading this chapter and the next right after this one goes up. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **-Vote on the poll on my page! The submissions end in August!-**


	86. Chapter 86

Chapter 86

*Bang!* *Clang!* *Crash!*

As the other CPUs battled amongst themselves, Hikan and I dashed towards each other. Upon meeting each other, we swung our blades at each other and exchanged blow after blow, causing shock waves and sparks to fly everywhere. The more we clashed, the more terrain that seemed to be destroyed.

"Yah!"

"Grah!"

*Slam!* *Bang!* *Boom!* *Clang!* *Clang!* *Skkkrrrreeee!*

I increased the speed of my movements and rushed at Hikan, colliding my blade with his. As I continued to swing, he was slowly pushed back and pinned against a tree. As I thrusted my blade towards him, he shot a ball of fire from his blade right into my face. I quickly formed a barrier and shielded myself from the flames.

Once the fire had dissipated, I let the barrier fade away and, from out of the smoke, Hikan swung his blade at me. Relying on reflexes, I quickly blocked the strike as he retreated back into the smoke. I scanned the area, but I couldn't find him.

"Damn! Too much smoke!"

As I turned around, I stopped time for a second and got into a stance to block his strike. But instead of striking the spot I thought he would, he quickly kicked my gut and sent me tumbling to the floor, causing me to drop my blade. Instead of retreating back into the shadows, he brought his blade down on me. I quickly formed a blade of energy and slammed it against his. Our blades grinded against each other and a piercing, screeching sound filled the air while we clashed our blades against each other.

*Thud!* *Clink!* *Crash!* *Boom!*

As the smoke faded away and Hikan pressed closer, I kicked at his stomach and sent him stumbling back, dropping his weapon in the process. While he was recovering his balance, I rushed at him and thrusted my blade at him once again. However, he kicked my blade away and swung a fist towards me. Not having enough time to create another weapon, I also threw a punch at him. As our blows connected with the other's face, we were sent flying back. I crashed into a nearby large boulder while Hikan crashed into a group of trees.

"Gh..." I pulled myself out of the boulder and caught my breath as I watched Hikan. He pulled himself out of the trees and got to his feet, wearing a smile.

I smirked and spat out some blood. "Can I just say that last time was a much longer and deadlier fight?

Hikan chuckled and wiped the blood at his lip. "Sure. But we've both been training since then, haven't we?"

I let a laugh escape. "I guess the cat's out of the bag."

Hikan materialized another blade. "Then, like last time, there's no reason to hold back."

I also materialized a blade. "Guess not."

We both stepped towards each other and met in the middle, inches apart. "Ready for round two?" I asked.

"I've been ready," Hikan tightened the grip on his blade.

"…"

"…"

*Bang!*

We slammed our blades against one another, creating a shockwave that sent us back. I activated my body to act at eighty percent. "Now the real fight begins!"

* * *

 **Hikan's POV**

Even though we were both worn out and injured, I couldn't help but want to fight more. I increased my power to eighty percent.

*Bang!* *Crash!* Clang!* *Slam!* *Thud!*

We rushed towards each other again. As Silver swung his blade, I sweeped at his feet and he fell to the ground. Before he hit the ground, I slammed a punch at his back, crashing him into the ground and creating a crater. I brought my blade down on him, but he parried the strike, leaving me vulnerable.

Silver quickly lunged towards me and pinned me to the ground. Then he threw me a punch, filled with energy and slammed it into my thorax, creating another crater. Silver brought down another fist, but I kicked him off of me. I then got back to my feet.

"…!"

*Bang!* *Clang!* *Shwing!* *Slash!* *Slam!*

As I looked up, I found Silver in my face. I quickly blocked his oncoming strike and knocked him back. I lunged towards him and slashed down at him only to have him slash my strike to the side, leaving me wide open once again. As he reached his hand forward to grab me, I spun on my heel and kicked him in the back of his head. As he fell to the floor, I smashed his face into a nearby boulder, smashing it. Silver's body went limp, and I tossed him to the floor.

"Haa...haaa...haaa..." I breathed heavily as I limped towards Silver's body, a pool of blood oozing from him. "C-Crap...you better still...be alive..." I prayed.

"…!"

*Thud* *Shk!* *Shk!* *Chk!* *Sk!*

I kneeled at his body and reached out to touch him. Right before I could make contact with him, Silver suddenly grabbed my hand, catching me off guard. He then lunged at me, materializing four daggers, and pinned me to the ground. Before I could kick back, he quickly jabbed the four daggers into my limbs, immobilizing me and sapping me of my energy.

*Ching!*

I reverted back to my normal form and I felt the daggers' pain burn deeper.

"T-There...haa...haaa...I...win..." Silver said as he rose to his feet.

I forced a smile. "I-I'll...give you some...credit... That you're still able to move...so fast..." I examined his body. "W-With...the injuries...you've received."

He also forced a smile. "I-I...could say the same...about you..."

His clothes were torn to shreds, there were flesh wounds and cuts scattered around his body, there were bloody gashes on his face and there were also rocks along with blood that covered his face.

Silver smiled and I watched in awe as Silver's body began to heal. His wounds and cuts closed, his gashes closed themselves back up and were covered over by new skin—healing the gashes—, rocks on his face were burned away and the blood slowly faded away.

I let out a chuckle. "Heh, I forgot...about that healing you had..."

Silver smiled and kneeled beside me. "How about I heal you too?"

I gave a small nod. "Y-yeah...thanks..."

He placed his hand at my chest and a energy seemed to emit from his hand. Suddenly, I felt a warm energy flow through my body, I felt the pain leaving my body and I felt my strength return to my body. Silver removed his hand from my chest and helped me to my feet.

I looked over at him. "You know, that battle wasn't as intense as the last one," I stated.

Silver nodded in agreement. "Yeah, next time, let's just go all out from the beginning."

I nodded. "Yeah, but let's just go back to the other battle with the other CPUs first."

Silver nodded. So, we took our blades and returned to the other CPUs...

* * *

 **Silver's POV**

Hikan and I jogged towards the CPUs to find them crowding around Vert and Nepgear. Vert was crumpled on the ground in tears while Nepgear was panting heavily as Plutia slowly approached her.

"Silver! Hikan! Save me!" Nepgear pleaded.

"Oh?" Plutia turned towards us. Noticing Hikan, she formed a wide grin. "Oh, Hikan. Would you mind coming over here for a moment?"

A cold sweat flowed down his forehead. "Um..."

Plutia continued smiling sincerely. "Come on. I promise I don't bite..."

I patted Hikan's back. "It's fine. You're healed. I'm sure you'll be fine," I claimed as I pushed him towards Plutia.

"I fucking hate you!" Hikan yelled as Plutia kicked him to the ground beside Nepgear.

"Now, it's time I give you both a punishment for being as naughty as to fight us," Plutia said as she cracked her whip.

"Nooo!"

I turned away from them and approached the others, who were crowding around Vert. I tapped on Neptune's shoulder. "It might be a bit too late to ask this, but should we stop Plutia?"

Neptune sighed. "I give up. It's probably for the best if they experience the sheer terror of Sadie at least once."

I sighed. "Maybe..."

"It's not fair! I demand a rematch!" Vert—who was in her normal form—whined. "If it had been one-on-one matches, I could've won!"

Blanc groaned. "Shut up! You're the one who challenged us, knowing the conditions!"

Noire smirked. "Man, this reminds me of what a certain someone did when they lost to me," Noire said as she glanced over at Blanc.

"Shut up! That doesn't matter!" Blanc shouted.

"Please! I'm asking for a rematch! Why won't you accept my request?" Vert asked.

"Look, you already lost, so get over it," I said. "There's no use in complaining over spilled milk."

Vert sniffled. "B-But..."

"Geez..." Neptune let out a sigh.

*Ching!*

Neptune reverted back to her normal form and approached Vert. "C'mon! Buck up, girlie!" Neptune advised. She pointed over towards Plutia. "You don't want to end up like those two getting tortured, do you?"

I looked over at Plutia, who seemed to be enjoying herself torturing Hikan and Nepgear. "P-Please...no more..." Nepgear pleaded.

"S-Stop...I'm sorry...okay?" Hikan uttered.

Plutia wagged her finger and tisked. "Oh that simply won't do. In fact, your cries make me want to keep punishing you."

Their eyes widened in fear. "No! No more!"

I turned back to Vert before I saw anything too graphic. Vert shook her head. "No... Please, don't let such a fate befall me..." She pleaded.

"Then suck it up, kid!" Neptune repeated.

*Ching!* *Ching!*

Noire and Blanc reverted back to their normal forms. "There's no point in continuing this fight," Noire stated. "I'll rematch you once you've learned to actually take it, but right now, you can't."

Blanc sighed. "Yeah. If we ever do fight again, I don't want to hear any of your dumb excuses again."

"Oooh..." Vert sulked and pouted.

"Oh? Are we doone?" Plutia—now in her original form—asked.

Noire jumped at Plutia's sudden appearance. "Ah! P-Plutia?! You're back to your normal form?!"

Plutia nodded. "Yuup! I'm aaaall done playing!"

Nepgear and Hikan dragged themselves towards us. "I'm...so...worthless..." Hikan chanted. "I'll never win at life..."

"I'm...so useless..." Nepgear sniffled. "Silver will never want to marry me..."

I gulped. "Plutia, what did you do to these two?"

"I played with them a looot...!" Plutia answered happily.

I pulled Nepgear into a hug and patted her head. "There, there. It'll be fine. You're not useless and you know that I love you with all of my heart."

Nepgear sniffled. "R-Really?"

I nodded. "Promise."

I glanced over at Hikan, whose eyes were blank. "I'll never get back...Blanc will leave me..."

"Geez," Blanc approached him. "Hey! Snap out of it!"

*Slap!*

"Ow!" Hikan held the cheek Blanc had slapped. "Thanks, I feel much better now."

"Well, I guess we're done here," Noire said. "Let's get out of here."

"Lady Green Heart!" A voice called after Vert before we could leave.

A guard ran up to us. "Lady Green Heart! Two people claiming to be part of the Seven Sages have attacked our city!"

"What?!" Vert seemed taken aback. "What about our military?"

"They're completely ineffective," the guard said, bowing his head.

I let out a chuckle. "Man, this guard actually knows how to do his job, unlike a certain guard from a certain person's nation," I said, glancing over at Noire.

"That was only one time!" Noire argued.

"Then I shall go stop the—agh!" Vert crumpled to the ground. "It seems I've been injured far too badly."

Blanc shrugged. "I guess that's true. We did beat her pretty badly."

I sighed. "Look, how about I go help stop them?" I offered.

Vert glanced up at me. "You would do that?"

I nodded. "Sure," I turned to the other CPUs. "Right, guys?"

"Right!" They all chorused.

I turned back to Vert. "Are you coming?"

Vert smiled and forced herself to her feet. "Of course I'm coming! What kind of a CPU would I be if I couldn't defend my own nation?"

I nodded. "Alright! Then let's go!"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Another chapter is out! Here's the other chapter as promised. I've also decided that, during this summer too, I'll be uploading three chapters a week. Sorry, I'm just really stressed during summer. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **-Vote on the poll on my page! Submissions end August!-**


	87. Chapter 87

Chapter 87

"Wow, this is just like every other destroyed city; destroyed factories and skyscrapers, smoke and some random, burning fire," Neptune commented as she examined the city.

I nodded. "That is true. But I will admit that they did do a good job at destroying this city."

Vert looked over at me. "I'm not sure that's something you should be complimenting them on."

Hikan sighed. "Oh well," he pointed ahead of him. "Look, they're right there."

Closing in on them, we found Arfoire and Copypaste talking about something.

"What's wrong, dear friend?" Copypaste asked. "Do you need an ice cream or a pat on the back to make you feel better?"

"Shut up! All I need is for you to stop talking!" Arfoire demanded.

"Aww! Come on! Turn that frown upside down!" Copypaste said. "Do you need to talk about it? It'll make you feel better!"

"I said to shut the hell up!" Arfoire demanded. Noticing us, she turned around. "Oh? Looks like the CPUs are here and they seem to have brought more to the fight," Arfoire sighed. "At least this will relieve me from hearing this stupid robot's voice."

Blanc let out a chuckle. "I'll give them credit for being able to put on a good comedy routine while they were destroying a city," Blanc complimented.

"Again, I'm not sure you should be complimenting them on that," Vert repeated.

"Wait," Hikan pointed towards Arfoire. "That's Arfoire, isn't it?"

"Hm?" I turned to Hikan. "How'd you already know?"

"Because I've fought her before," Hikan said. "So has Neptune."

Neptune stared at Hikan blankly. "I have?"

"That's great and all, but how come this guy is still here?" Noire asked, pointing towards Copypaste. "Didn't we chop him into pieces and watch him blow up?"

"Yeah, we did," I agreed. "Hey, robot! How are you alive!?" I shouted at him.

"Bwahaha! My good pals from the Seven Sages fixed me up! Now, I feel so alive and full of joy!" Copypaste explained.

Neptune stared at him in awe. "I don't think he was just fixed up. I think he got some new speech pattern too!"

"That's right, little one! I've been reborn better than ever! Life is just so great!" Copypaste boomed.

Arfoire glared at Copypaste. "Listen, just shut your mouth already!"

Hikan sighed. "Let's just get this fight over with."

*Ching!*

He activated HDD and chuckled. "You know, I'm kind of going to feel bad for destroying this robot, even if I didn't know him that well."

I nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking the exact same thing, and I was just starting to like him too."

*Ching!*

The rest of the girls followed suit and all activated HDD. Arfoire frowned upon seeing so many CPUs. "Normally, I wouldn't mind that there are so many CPUs. But I'm bothered by that boy and that male CPU."

"Cheer up, buddy! You have me with you! So everything will be alright!" Copypaste reassured Arfoire. "There's not just guys on their side. There's a guy on your side too! Me!"

After hearing Copypaste's voice again, Arfoire gritted her teeth. "Can't you go five seconds without saying all this friendly, bubbly crap!?"

"Oh, lighten up! How about I sing a melody?" Copypaste suggested.

Arfoire let out a heavy sigh and turned back towards us. "Let's just get this fight over with. Just make him stop talking."

We all materialized our weapons. "I'll make you pay in cold blood for what you've done to my nation!" Vert shouted as she dashed towards the two Seven Sages members.

"We're just here to stop them, not kill them," Neptune reminded her.

I sighed. "Doesn't matter. As long as we beat them."

Noire got into a stance. "I'm ready!"

"Alright! Come at me friends! Try your hardest!" Copypaste shouted.

I turned to Hikan. "Let's handle Arfoire and let the girls handle Copypaste."

Hikan nodded. "I'm game."

*Bang!* *CRASH!*

Hikan and I dashed towards Arfoire while the girls dashed towards Copypaste.

*Clang!* *Crash!* *Bang!*

Hikan and I stepped up to Arfoire and swung our blades at her. She quickly materialized a three-pronged trident and caught our blades with the prongs, forcing our blades to the ground. As our blades touched the ground, I put energy into my blade while Hikan lit his blade on fire and we cut through the trident.

*Swhing!* *Sk!* *Crash!*

The sudden loss of weight in the trident made Arfoire lose her balance and lean forward. Hikan and I both stepped forward and slashed at her once again. She jumped out of the way and only managed to receive small cuts and a tear to her outfit. As she landed back onto the ground, Hikan quickly dashed behind her and headbutted her, sending her crashing to the ground.

Hikan retreated back over to me and we allowed Arfoire to get to her feet. "Damn you both!" Arfoire cursed. "You didn't even let me transform yet!"

I let out a chuckle. "You should know that this is an actual fight. Nobody will give you time just so you can become even more powerful!"

Hikan gripped his blade. "Plus, I know the terror you've caused and I won't let it spread to here too!"

Arfoire growled. "How can I be losing to two guys!?" She snarled. "One of them isn't even a CPU!"

I grinned. "You're right. I'm not a CPU," I let the Devils' energy seep out of me, casting an image of the Devils. "I'm a Devil."

Arfoire stared in horror at the two Devils looming over my head. "T-That can't be possible!"

"It's possible. You're seeing it right now," I said as I activated Level One. "You know what? I'll be generous and let you transform. Go on."

"You're just toying with me, aren't you?" Arfoire asked.

Hikan smiled. "So what? You wanted to transform, right? Then do it."

Arfoire sneered. "Fine! Have it your way!"

*Hssshhh!*

We watched as her body became shrouded in a dark energy and enveloped her. After a while, the dark energy faded away and Arfoire was back to her CPU-like form.

Arfoire let out a laugh. "This is your biggest mistake! I'll make sure you both perish at my hands!"

Hikan's eyes widened. "Wait, that's also the Deity of Sins..."

I turned to Hikan. "What do you mean? Aren't they separate entities?"

"I thought they were too," Hikan muttered. "But I guess they're not in this dimension."

I sighed. "Whatever. Let's just hurry up and beat her."

Hikan nodded. "Right."

*Bang!* *Crash!* *Clang!* *Slash!* *Shk!* *Shwing!* *Boom!*

We rushed at Arfoire and swung at her again. She materialized another trident and stepped out of the way of our swings, thrusting the prongs towards us. We both sidestepped the prongs, only to be greeted by throwing knives. I slowed down time and we both slashed the knives away. Time resumed and we continued our dash towards Arfoire. As we approached her, she materialized more knives and sent them all towards us.

Hikan quickly slashed towards them, creating a wave of fire and melting the knives away. Before Arfoire could strike us with her trident again, I slowed down time and dashed towards her, slamming a fist into her face. Time resumed and she crashed into a nearby, half-destroyed building.

Hikan turned to me. "Hey, we're trying to protect the city, not help destroy it."

"I know, I know! I just didn't think I hit her hurt that hard!" I protested.

"Yah!"

"…!"

Arfoire quickly flew towards us and slammed her trident down onto Hikan. He slashed up at her trident, parrying the blow and leaving Arfoire wide open, allowing me to swoop in to strike at her. She quickly kicked my blade away and performed a downward diagonal slash towards us. After we jumped away, I lunged forward and performed a downward slash at her. She stepped back, allowing another tear on her outfit, and letting Hikan sneak in a slash down at her from above. Arfoire quickly dodged out of the way of his blade only for him to kick her in the gut, sending her towards the ground. Before she reached the ground, I slammed my fist into her jaw and sent her crashing into another building. This time, the building blew up into rubble.

"Shit!"

"Silver! Stop destroying the buildings!" Hikan repeated.

"I'm sorry! It's not on purpose!" I shouted.

We turned back to Arfoire. "You two damn—!"

*Shk!* *Chk!* *Chk!* *Shk!*

She was cut off as I materialized four daggers and stabbed them into her limbs, pinning her to the building's remains. "Rrgh! Damn it!"

*Fwshhh!*

Her transformation broke and she returned to her normal form. I sighed. "That's that," I turned to Hikan. "How are the girls doing?"

We both turned to the girls to see Copypaste pinned to a building. I let out a chuckle. "Guess I'm not the only one destroying buildings."

We jogged back to the girls, dragging Arfoire with us and tossing her next to Copypaste.

"Good job! You all did a number on me! That was a good fight!" Copypaste congratulated.

"Can't you just shut up!?" Arforie shouted. "Whatever. I'm leaving."

Arfoire picked herself up and began dragging herself out of the city.

"Oooh! Wait! I'll play tag with you!" Copypaste shouted, chasing after Arfoire.

"Hey! Get back here!" Noire called out as she began chasing after them.

"Bye-bye! Have fun playing taaaag...!" Plutia—who was back in her normal form—called after them, jumping in front of Noire and stopping her chase.

"Plutia!? Why are you back in your normal form!?" Neptune asked.

"I've already had my fun with Neppy Jr. and Hikan," Plutia said. "So I don't feel like chasing after them."

Blanc let out a sigh. "Whatever. It doesn't matter. We chased them out."

Vert nodded. "Yes."

*Ching!*

The girls and Hikan all reverted back to their normal forms. Vert smiled at us. "Thank you all for helping me. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have been able to beat them without you all aiding me. So, I thank you all."

"I'm surprised," Blanc said. "I thought you would be complaining about a rematch or something."

Vert let out a small laugh. "Quite the opposite. Right now, I am truly grateful to you," Vert smiled. "However, on the day we do rematch, I will be prepared. I'll have gathered more shares, my military will be far greater and I will be able to take you all out by just clapping my hands."

I smiled. "We'll look forward to that day."

Blanc smiled. "That's a good goal to work towards. Until then, I'll look forward to the day we fight."

Vert nodded. "Same goes to you too."

I let out a sigh. "Well, I guess that's a wrap," I turned to Neptune and Plutia. "You two ready to go home?"

"Yeah! I can go home and eat all the pudding I want!" Neptune exclaimed with a grin.

Plutia also shined a bright smile. "Yaaay! I'll go home and take as many naps as I waant...!" Plutia giggled.

Nepgear smiled at me. "I just want to spend time with you, Silver."

I nodded. "Yeah, we can do that," I turned to Hikan. "What about you?"

Hikan let out a shrug. "I'm not sure. I'll probably keep training until the next time we fight."

I let out a laugh. "Yeah, I might do that too."

"Well, I'll see you all later," I waved the other girls a goodbye.

"See you guys later!" The girls called after us after we left.

"Well, let's head home," I said.

The five of us nodded and we all began our walk back to Planeptune...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Well, another chapter is finished. I've been really addicted to Pokemon GO. It's a fun way to get some exercise and catch Pokemon if you're a Pokemon fan! I highly recommend it to anybody who likes Pokemon. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **-Go vote on the poll on my page! All submissions will be accepted until August!-**


	88. Chapter 88

Chapter 88

"*Chew, chew*…..*Munch*…..ah," I let out a breath as I finished the last of my roast pork. "Man, it's good to make your own food ever once in a while."

I got up from the chair, gathered my dishes and began washing them. As I washed them, I thought about how long I had been in this dimension, which I figured out was called the Ultra Dimension. "It's weird to think several years have passed since Hikan and Nepgear arrived here and became CPUs," I muttered to myself.

Several years had passed since Nepgear and Hikan had become CPUs. Ever since then, Planeptune's Basilicom had become much more noisy with all the CPUs—including Vert—visiting. To add on to that, Nepgear was being treated as a toy by Neptune and Vert since those two were always fighting over her. While these things were transpiring over at the Basilicom, Hikan and I were usually off training. Also, the babies had all grown up and were now all around the age of seven.

As I finished the dishes, I headed back to Plutia's room, where everyone was gathered. "Hey, what's going—" I cut myself off. "Oh, not this again..." I let out a groan and frowned at the sight in front of me.

"Let her go Vert! Nep Jr. is MY sister cause she's got 'Nep' in her name!" Neptune claimed as she tugged on Nepgear's arm.

"Nonsense. She used MY CPU Memory, so, by the rules, she is MY little sister now," Vert explained, tightly gripping Nepgear.

"P-Please stop, you two!" Nepgear pleaded. "It hurts when both of you are tugging on me!"

In front of me, was the now-normal occurrence in the Basilicom. Nowadays, Vert and Neptune were constantly fighting over Nepgear.

"What about Hikan? Why can't you just use him instead? Didn't he also use a CPU Memory from you?" Neptune asked.

Vert sighed. "Sadly, he's never home. He's always off training instead of spending quality time with his sister."

I let out a laugh. "Nepgear, how's it feel to finally be wanted?" I asked.

She looked over at me and pouted. "I didn't want to be wanted in this type of way!"

"Yeah! So let her go!" Neptune demanded, pulling even harder.

I turned away from the two of them. "I'll just leave them be..."

"Sickle! Sickle!" A young voice called out to me.

"Hm?" I looked behind my shoulder. "Oh, hey Peashy. What's up?"

A young child ran up to me. This was Peashy after she had grown into a seven year old. Like before, her yellow hair remained short and she still sported her two red beads in her hair. She now wore a yellow and black jacket with star accessories, the jacket extended to her thighs, the sleeves' hems and collar of the jacket had white fur at them and the zipper was a white, furry ball. She had two yellow paw gloves—tiger paws as Plutia called them—and she wore a pair of red and white sneakers.

"I got a present for you!" Peashy said, grinning widely.

I kneeled down to her level. "What kind of present?"

Peashy's grin grew even wider. "Hehehe..."

I cocked my head. "Hm?"

"Pea Punch!"

*Crack!* *Thud!*

"A-Ah..." I crumpled to the floor and clutched the area of my ribcage, the wind knocked right out of me. "F-For...a...l-little kid...you...sure do...pack a punch..."

Peashy grinned widely. "Surprise!"

"I-It's a good thing...that my Devils can heal me..." I muttered, as the cracks began to mend. I pulled myself to my feet. "Alright, Peashy. Let's have a fair match this time," I said as I took a stance.

"Go Peashy! You can do it!" Compa shouted.

"C'mon! Knock his lights out!" IF yelled.

I sighed. "These kids..."

"I'll win this time too!" Peashy shouted as she tackled towards me.

*Thud!*

As her body closed in on me, I quickly jumped forward and used her back to help boost me over her. Peashy hit the ground face-first while I landed safely on the other side.

I turned back to face her. "Ready to give up?"

Peashy quickly scrambled to her feet. "No! I'm gonna make sure I hit you!"

I smiled. "Alright, but I'm not going to go easy on you."

"Yah!" This time, she just ran towards me.

"…!" As I sidestepped, she suddenly stopped and shifted her direction towards me. I readied myself to take the force of her punch, but instead, was greeted by something else.

*Crack!* *Thud!*

"Nyah!"

Instead of throwing a punch, she lunged herself towards me and headbutted me. "Gh!"

I crashed to the floor, having been nailed in the solar plexus, the breath knocked out of me once again. "G-Good job...Peashy..."

"P-Ko! What're you doing!?" Neptune asked, running up to us. "Why's Silver dead on the floor?!"

"HUH!? I killed him?!" Peashy poked at my face.

"I-I'm...not dead..." I coughed out.

I pulled myself up onto a cushion and let my body heal. "Geez... I think I'm just going to sit here for a bit."

Compa and IF let out cheers. "Yeah! You did it!"

I looked over at the two of them. "You two really do enjoy seeing me lose, don't you?"

"It's fun to bet on who will win!" IF stated.

"I like watching Pea and Silver play!" Compa stated.

I smiled over at them. "I guess your appearances weren't the only things that changed, huh?"

IF still retained her leaf bow in her short brown hair, however her attire had changed. She now wore an oversized, navy blue coat with a secondary black color and colorful accessories attached to the coat. Underneath her coat, she wore a pair of gray, short overalls with a few more accessories clipped to it and a pink cellphone tucked into a pocket. Besides that, she wore a pair of knee-high black socks tucked into her blue and black sneakers.

I switched my attention over to Compa.

While Compa still had short hair, she now wore her hair accessory. In her hair, she now wore her white hairpiece shaped in a letter 'C'. Her attire was a long-sleeve, button-up pink shirt with heart-shaped buttons, checkered red sleeved hems and a white collar along with a red, checkered skirt. Also, she wore a pink bow—with a gold centerpiece—and a pair of white socks tucked into her pink sandals with a heart accessories on each sandal.

"Huh? Why are you looking at us like that?" IF asked, examining herself. "Is there something on me?"

I smiled wryly. "Nah. I'm just thinking about how much you three have grown."

IF frowned. "Geez, you sound like some old geezer."

I sighed. "Yup, you three really have grown up."

"Wow, the kids have really grown since the last time," Blanc commented as she entered Plutia's room with Noire and the room's owner.

"We're baaack...!" Plutia said, smiling brightly.

"It's great that the kids have grown and all, but what's going on?" Noire asked, taking in the room around her.

"Hey, it's Ploot!" Peashy shouted as she ran towards Plutia.

"Hiii Peashy...!" Plutia greeted, patting the Peashy clinging to her feet.

"So anyway," Noire looked over at Neptune. "Why's your sister hypnotized by Vert's...um...pillows?"

"Huh?" Neptune looked back over at Nepgear and Vert. "Crap! I let my guard down!"

We watched as Nepgear rested her head onto Vert's bosom. "They're so soft... Vert's so nice and kind. She's actually there for me, unlike Neptune... Maybe Vert should be my sister..."

Vert let out a giggle. "Yes, please do be my sister. I'll spoil you as much as you want."

Neptune turned to me. "Silver!? Aren't you going to do anything?! Vert's about to steal my sister! AKA, your GIRLFRIEND!"

I rested my head onto the table. "I give up. I can still visit her anyways. All I have to do is walk there."

"But long distance relationships never work out! The two of you will end up breaking up!" Neptune argued.

I frowned. "You're right..."

"Um, excuse me Vert,(･_･)" Mini-Histoire floated up to Vert and tapped on her shoulder. "I have something to tell you."

Vert turned to Mini-Histoire. "Oh? What is it?"

"Well, I just looked through my tome and there isn't a single rule about CPUs becoming siblings through Memory Cores used at the same nation. (￣ω￣)" Mini-Histoire explained.

"Ha! So Nep Jr. is still MY junior!" Neptune stated, pulling Nepgear back over to her.

Vert smiled innocently. "Whatever do you mean, Histoire? Your nation is different from mine," Vert said. "Since mine is overseas, the rules are different."

"Um, I'm pretty sure these rules apply to ALL of Gamindustri,(￣Д￣)" Mini-Histoire stated.

Vert continued smiling innocently. "I have no idea what you mean."

Neptune groaned. "Wow, even in this dimension Vert is still just as stubborn. I guess what they say is true. Once a Vert, always a Vert."

I cast Neptune a funny glance. "I'm pretty sure that's not how the saying goes."

Noire sighed. "Just let her be. She won't listen anyways."

"Heeey, Silvy...!" Plutia tapped on my shoulder. "Can I talk to you aloone...?"

"Sure," I rose from my cushion. "Lead the way."

"Okaay...!" Plutia began her march outside of her room and into the guest bedroom, also known as Noire's old room. After I entered the room, she clicked the door close.

"So, what would you like to talk about?" I asked.

Her face turned a deep shade of red and she turned her head down, playing with her hair. "Wellll...ummmm..."

I scooted close to her to examine her face. "Something wrong?"

"Well...I...um...mm..." Plutia turned away and curled up into a ball. "I don't know why I can't saaay it..."

"Hey," I put a hand on her shoulder. "It's alright. Just take your time."

"It's just that..." She looked back up at me. "Whenever I'm around you and Neppy...I feel sooo happy...and...um...you make me feel so warm when I'm around you...I...I..."

I gazed deep into her eyes. "Plutia..."

"Well, um...Silvy...I...I...I—"

*Click!*

Before she could finish what she wanted to say, the door clicked open and Hikan walked in. "Oh. Sorry, I didn't know you two were in here," Hikan apologized. "I'm gonna go to the others," he said as he awkwardly walked away from the room.

I sighed. "I forgot that this was Hikan's room now," I looked back over at Plutia. "So, what did you want to say?"

Plutia shook her head. "I-It's nothing... Just forget it..."

Before I could say anything else, Plutia dragged herself out of the room, wearing a glum expression. I took a seat onto the bed and sighed. "Damnit..."

"Hey," Hikan walked back into the room. "What was that just now?"

I rested my chin on my hands. "I'm not too sure, but I do have a good idea."

"What is it?"

"Amorousness," I answered.

Hikan's eyes widened. "Really?! Are you sure?!"

"Well, I'm pretty sure I'm not some dense anime protagonist, so I'm pretty sure," I answered.

Hikan sighed. "You can't escape trouble, can you?"

I laid down onto his bed. "I guess not. Especially since everybody's falling in love and all."

He laid down beside me. "You've noticed too?"

I nodded. "Yeah. The thing with Tolise and Neptune, right?"

"Yeah," Hikan agreed. "I don't mind that. But do you think Neptune will ever catch on?"

I shrugged. "Eventually."

Hikan sighed. "Let's just not worry about it for now and just go make lunch for everyone. Maybe it will take your mind off this situation."

I nodded. "Yeah..."

But as we walked out towards the kitchen, I couldn't stop thinking about Plutia...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Chapter done! So, if any of you know what amorousness is, then you know what's going on towards the end of the chapter** **. If you don't know what it means, you'll figure it out in the next chapter. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **-Vote on the poll on my page! Submissions won't be accepted once it turns to August!-**


	89. Chapter 89

Chapter 89

"…..." I stared up at the ceiling while I laid on my bed and breathed a heavy sigh. "...What should I do...?"

A few hours had passed since the talk I had with Plutia. After that, we had all eaten lunch, but she refused to talk to me, not even sparing me a glance.

"Damn, I really messed up, didn't I?" I muttered to myself. "What's wrong with me...?"

Using my energy, I created a bouncy ball and began tossing it up towards the ceiling. Whenever it came down, I caught it and repeated the process. The sound of the ball hitting the ceiling filled the quietness of the room.

"…"

*Thump, Thump, Thump*

"…."

*Thump, Thump* *Knock, Knock!*

As I caught the ball, I heard a knock at my door.

"Hm?" I turned to face the door. "It's open."

The door creaked open and Nepgear peaked her head in. "Oh, there you are! I was looking all over for you..." She hopped onto my bed and started snuggling with me. "What's wrong? Why aren't you out with everyone?"

I sighed. "I'm just thinking about something..."

"Huh?" She scooted closer to me. "Can you tell me?"

I smiled wryly and ran my hand through her hair. "I'm not actually sure..."

"Why's that?" She asked.

I sighed. "In a way, it involves you..."

She stared at me blankly. "M-Me? Why me?"

I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her body close to mine. "Are you sure you want to know?" I asked in a hushed voice.

"Mhm," she gave a small nod.

I turned her face towards mine and gazed into her eyes. "It's about Plutia."

"Huh? What about her?" Nepgear asked.

I bit my lip and looked back up at the ceiling. "Well, how about we go on a walk while we talk about this?"

Nepgear nodded. "Alright..."

We got up from my bed and began our walk to a park...

* * *

*Chirp, chirp!*

"Ehehehe..." Nepgear let out a giggle as she clung to my arm.

"Hm? What's so funny?" I asked, looking over at her.

She smiled and shook her head. "It's just that we always spend so much time at parks and with nature. It's so nice!"

I glanced at a nearby nest of birds. "I agree..." I muttered. "It's soothing, isn't it?"

Nepgear nodded. "It is..."

*Squeak, Squeak!* *Chirp, Chirp!*

While we walked the park's pathway, we watched the animals around us. "I really do wish this could last forever..." I muttered.

"Hm? Did you say something?" Nepgear asked, taking her eyes off the animals around her for a second.

"No, it's nothing," I stated. "Let's just keep walking..."

Nepgear nodded. "Okay..."

"If you want, I think I can tell you about that thing now," I suggested.

Nepgear watched me with a worried look. "Are you sure? It seems to be really bothering you. I won't force you to..."

I shook my head. "No, I feel like I should tell you now. Otherwise, I won't be able to say it later on..."

"Okay," Nepgear squeezed my hand.

"I'll just say it now," I squeezed back and took a deep breath. "Um, I think Plutia might have feelings for me..."

"EH?!" Nepgear pulled her hand away and jumped back. "W-Wait! D-Does that mean that you're cheating on me?!"

I sighed. "Geez... All I said was that she had FEELINGS for me. I never said that I was DATING her. I'm only dedicated to you, remember?"

Nepgear scratched her head. "O-Oh yeah... Sorry..."

I smiled dryly. "Don't worry. I was kind of expecting your reaction."

Nepgear frowned. "I see... So that was what was bothering you..."

I nodded. "I'm not sure what to do now..."

"Hey," Nepgear walked up close to me and took my hands. "It's alright. It'll all work out..."

I bit my lip. "I know... But I don't want to leave her feelings unanswered..."

Nepgear smiled dryly. "It can't be avoided, can it?"

I pulled her into a warm embrace. "No, it can't. It'd be worse to leave her feelings unanswered than to give her an honest answer."

"Do you know what you're going to say?" Nepgear asked in a hushed tone.

I shook my head. "No... I haven't thought about it..."

"Okay..." Nepgear pulled away and stared into my eyes. "I'll give you some time to decide on what you'll do..."

I pecked her forehead. "Thanks. I needed that."

Nepgear returned my gesture with a bright smile. "It's no problem. Now, how about we enjoy our time here while we can?"

I smiled. "Right..."

* * *

 **Third Person POV**

"Patrolling! Patrolling!" Ram chanted in a loud voice as she skipped down the Lowee streets with Rom. "Wow, we're so good at our jobs! We're the best at patrolling!"

"U-Um...Ram? I-I don't think you should be saying it so loudly..." Rom suggested in a timid and hushed voice as she ran to catch up with her sister.

"There's nothing wrong with it!" Ram claimed. "We're going to be CPUs one day and we have to be loud and proud about everything we do!"

"Y-Yeah, b-but..." Rom started.

"HEY! WE'RE CPUS AND WE'RE PATROLLING!" Ram shouted, causing people around them to turn their attention to the two girls. Ram spun back to face Rom. "See? Now people know WE are the centers of attention!"

"B-But...it's embarrassing..." Rom whined, shrinking back.

"Who the hell just said CPUS?!" A man in a crowd asked, pushing his way past the crowd and towards the two girls. "Was it you, you brats?!" The man snarled, followed by another man and a woman.

"U-Um..."

"Yes we did!" Ram announced proudly. "Are you here to admire how awesome of CPUs we are?"

The three people's faces twisted into disgust and they cast glares towards Rom and Ram. "CPUs...CPUs should not exist!" The second man shouted. "You CPUs are a PLAGUE to this world!"

"H-Huh?!"

"That's right. If you CPUs didn't exist, then we could all live properly!" The woman growled.

"W-Wait! Hang on a second!" Ram shouted. "What have we done wrong!? We're the ones protecting you!"

The first man shook his head. "No, you're nothing but a virus! A virus that won't go away!"

As the three people inched closer and closer towards the two CPU Candidates, a crowd of people formed around them.

"Rrgh..." Ram glared back at them. "Rom! Let's transform and beat these stupid dummies up!"

"B-But...they're still Lowee citizens..." Rom whispered. "W-We can't hurt them..."

"Ooogh... You're right," Ram agreed. "Then let's just run!"

"T-There's nowhere to run to," Rom said as she pointed behind her. "W-We're against a wall..."

"You CPUs..." The group of three lunged themselves towards Rom and Ram. "YOU CPUS SHOULD NOT EXIST!"

The two girls clung tightly to each other and squeezed their eyes shut. "AHHH!"

*Thud!* *Crack!* *Crash!* *Thud!* *Thud!*

"…." But instead of the expected pain, nothing came.

"Hey, are you two alright?" A familiar voice asked.

"Huh?" Rom peeked her eyes open to see what was in front of her. She gasped when she saw who it was. "M-Mister Turtle!"

"Huh?" Ram also peeked her eyes open before they widened. "Hey! It's Turtle!"

They both dashed towards Tolise and hugged his legs. "T-That was so scary! Wahhh!" Tears began to roll down Rom's cheeks as she clung tightly to Tolise's leg.

"Y-You big dummy! You should have saved us faster!" Ram pouted as tears also rolled down her cheeks.

Tolise sighed. "Sorry. I didn't know the ones that were being assaulted were you two," he apologized as he looked behind him. Lying there, were the three attackers, unconscious. "Those three were most likely members of the Citizens Group," Tolise muttered.

"I don't care! They're big, dumb dummies!" Ram shouted as she stuck her tongue out at the unconscious three members.

"It's too dangerous for you two to be going out on your own these days. The Citizens Group is going to be out to get you two," Tolise warned the girls.

"We're sorry," the girls chorused as they bowed their heads.

Tolise smiled. "It's not your fault. Just be more careful," he advised. Tolise bent down and ushered for Rom and Ram. "C'mon, hop on my back. I'll take you two home."

"Yay!" Ram shouted in glee. She dashed towards Tolise and hopped onto his head. "I want to ride on his head!"

Rom slowly approached Tolise and got onto his back, wrapping her small arms tightly around his back. "I-I want to ride on Turtle too..."

"Alright, upsy-daisy." With a grunt, Tolise got back to his feet and began walking to Lowee's Basilicom while Rom and Ram rested on his back. "Let's head home before Blanc gets mad."

* * *

 **Silver's POV**

Neptune let out a sigh. "I guess this Basilicom is where everyone likes to gather," she stated as she examined the room full of people.

Vert smiled proudly. "Of course. This is where my sweet Nepgear is," Vert said. "Wherever she is, I'll always be there to show her my affection!"

"Yeah, but don't you get tired of sneaking over here?" Neptune asked.

Vert shook her head. "Not as long as my Nepgear is here."

Noire sighed. "That's the dumbest reason for visiting that I've ever heard of."

"This is coming from the girl who comes here everyday just to be visit Plutia," Blanc retorted.

Noire whirled her head towards Blanc. "T-That's not true! I-I just decided to scope out the competition! That's all!" Noire claimed as her face reddened.

"A terrible liar as always," Blanc muttered.

"Oh yeah? Then tell me why you're here!" Noire demanded.

"Simple. I've come to visit my FRIEND, Plutia," Blanc stated.

"Rrgh..." Noire could only glare at Blanc.

I looked over at Mini-Histoire, who was hovering beside me on the couch. "U-Um, everyone? Could you all please go do your jobs as CPUs instead of gathering here everyday to play? ( ；´Д｀)" Mini-Histoire asked worriedly.

"It's fine. I have the day off," Noire said. "Plus, I have the highest amount of shares anyways."

"Really? Keep talking shit like that and I'll steal those shares straight out of your ass!" Blanc growled.

"That's right! With my little sister Nepgear, we can do anything!" Vert said as she tightly squeezed Nepgear.

"V-Vert... You're hugging me...too...tightly..." Nepgear coughed out.

"Noire, even if you say that you're the best, you're really not," Neptune said. "I bet something bad will happen to your so-called "amazing nation" because you said it."

"Ha!" Noire smirked. "There's NO way anything bad could happen to my nation. After all, my nation is the best."

*BRINNNG! BRINNNG!*

"Hm? A phone call?" Mini-Histoire stared at the phone on the coffee table. "It's rare enough to even get a phone call. But it's even more surprising to get a call from Lastation."

"Oh! I got it!" Nepgear said as she pried herself from Vert's clutches and sped towards the phone. "Hello? This is Planeptune's Basilicom. Do you need something?"

After a few nods, Nepgear offered the phone to Noire. "It's for you, Noire."

"Huh? From my Basilicom?" Noire showed an expression of confusion as she took the phone. "Hello? What is it? ... I already told you it's my day off! Why are you—What!?"

We all stared at Noire as her eyes bulged. "What do you mean we were hacked!? HOW can we get hacked?!" Noire let out a heavy breath. "Fine, I'm coming back!"

Without saying goodbye, Noire tossed the phone back to Nepgear and dashed out the door. "And she's gone..." Neptune said. "The lesson to be learned here is to never be too Tsundere."

Hikan rolled his eyes. "Right, THAT'S the lesson."

Neptune flopped onto the couch and kicked her feet up onto the coffee table. "Well, whatever! At least now we can—"

*BRINNNNG! BRINNNNG!*

"Another one?" Nepgear answered the phone. "Hello? This is Planeptune's Basilicom. What do you need?"

Mini-Histoire turned to us. "See? If you all keep slacking off, you'll all end up like Noir—Ababababa! ( ﾟдﾟ)" Mini-Histoire was cut off by her sudden vibrating. "W-W-W-Why is m-m-m-my internal phone r-r-r-r-ringing!? (((( ;°Д°))))"

Neptune slumped over and frowned. "Wait, is this going where I think it's going?"

Nepgear turned to Blanc. "U-Um, Blanc? Somebody's destroying your Basilicom right now."

"The hell?!" A shadow cast over Blanc's eyes and a red eye gleamed through. "See you bitches later! I'm going to go beat the shit out of someone!"

Blanc crashed out of the door and headed for Lowee. Vert smiled. "Well, at least I'm saf—"

Mini-Histoire cut Vert off. "Vert, there are weird monsters attacking Leanbox,(~_~;)"

"What?!" Vert's eyes widened. "Then I'll head back to my nation immediately!"

And as she left, the room became quite once again. "Yep, this is the usual development in the series," Neptune said. "Oh well, looks like they're all gone! Now, I can nap all I want!"

"Uh-huuuh...!" Plutia smiled. "Naaaaps...!"

"U-Um, shouldn't we go help them?" Nepgear asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm going," I turned to Mini-Histoire. "Make sure to guard the kids. Since I'm dragging Neptune and Plutia along with me, it's up to you to make sure nothing bad happens over here. The kids are sleeping right now, so it shouldn't be that hard to watch them."

Mini-Histoire nodded.

"Wait, what?! We have to go too?" Neptune asked.

I nodded. "Yup. It's not a choice either."

Neptune stuck her tongue out. "I don't wanna!"

"I dooon't wanna either...!" Plutia agreed.

I sighed. "Doesn't matter. The two of you are coming whether or not you like it," I turned to Hikan. "Help me grab them."

Hikan nodded and the two of us scooped up Neptune and Plutia before we walked out the door with Nepgear.

"NOOO! THIS ISN'T FAIR!"

And, while the two Planeptune CPUs kicked and whined, we began our quest to go help the other CPUs...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here's another chapter! I tried doing some new things with my writing this time to make it better. Tell me how it is because your feedback is greatly appreciated! But I don't really have much to say this time. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **-Vote on the poll on my page! Submissions will end in early August!-**


	90. Chapter 90

Chapter 90

The first place we had decided to go to was Leanbox and help out Vert. During our adventure to get to Leanbox, Hikan and I had decided to make Neptune and Plutia walk on their own. Even though we had made it to Leanbox, we were now all tired. And by all, I mainly meant two.

"My feet hurt so much! I-I can't...take...another...step..." Neptune, exhausted, collapsed onto the ground.

"Meee too... My footsises huuurt..." Plutia whined as she also collapsed to the ground. "Can we take a break...?"

Hikan sighed. "Yeah, we probably should," he agreed. "After all, we did just walk, ride a boat and then walk some more."

"I don't know... What if Leanbox is on the brink of destruction?" I questioned.

"Y-Yeah, shouldn't we keep going?" Nepgear asked.

"But I'm tiirrrred..." Plutia whined.

I sighed. "I guess a little break wouldn't hurt."

"Yay!" Neptune sat criss-cross applesauce on the ground. "C'mon you three! Come and plop your flesh by me!"

Hikan and I sat down in between the girls while Nepgear continued to stand. "U-Um..."

"What's wrong, Nepgear?" Neptune asked. "Just sit down! We're pretty close to the city now, so there shouldn't be anything attacking us."

"Y-Yeah, but..." Nepgear's voice trailed off.

"Sit next to meeee...Neppy Jr.!" Plutia said, patting the spot beside her.

"Yeah, what have you got to lose by sitting?" I questioned. "Plus, it's better to be rested and prepared anyways."

Nepgear let out a sigh. "Fine, but only for a few minutes."

"That's the spirit Nep Jr.!" Neptune said, smiling brightly.

As Nepgear walked to sit beside Plutia, Nepgear froze as her eyes landed on something. "U-Um...uh..."

We watched as her face paled and a cold sweat formed. "What's wrong?" Hikan asked. "Are you sick or something?"

"N-No..." Nepgear answered with a nervous voice. "T-Turn around..."

"Huh?" The four of us that had been sitting turned to where Nepgear was staring at.

"…"

"…"

Staring right back at us was a monster. But this monster looked really weird.

It had four pairs of stubby brown legs, it had a vermillion orange body with a slight curve at it's back—causing it's head to arch slightly up—and it had a light peach colored belly. To add on to that, it had three rose red fins, with three sections, curving down it's back along with a rose red fishtail also divided into three sections. But the thing that made it look really weird, were it's big lips and bulgy, derpy eyes.

"…"

"…"

"Squeeeeak!"

"Ahhhhhhhh!"

After a long period of staring at the monster, it let out a loud shriek, causing Plutia to also let out a loud shriek. At Plutia's cry, the monster dashed ran away in the opposite direction.

"That thing was suuuper icky...!" Plutia whined as she hugged herself. "I don't wanna sit anymore...!"

Neptune nodded. "Y-Yeah! P-Plus we don't have to help Leanbox first, right? We can just go to Blanc or Noire first!"

"Y-Yeah..." Nepgear agreed as she clung tightly to my arm.

Hikan and I exchanged glances before sighing. "We're doing this, whether or not you like it," Hikan said firmly. "End of story."

"Get back here!" A voice cried.

"Hm?" We turned to the direction of the voice. Flying towards us was Vert in her HDD form. "Hey! It's Vert!"

"Huh?" Spotting us, she flew over towards us. "Have you five come to aid me?"

"Can you at least tell us what's going on first?" Neptune asked.

"Well—"

"Squeeeeak!" Vert was cut off by another one of those monsters—who was followed by two more.

"Ewwwww! It's back...!" Plutia shivered.

"I'll tell you once you help me defeat these monstrosities!" Vert said as she materialized her spear.

"Anything to get rid of this gross thing!" Neptune said.

The CPUs materialized their weapons as I drew my blade. "I don't understand why you'd need our help," Hikan commented. "They don't look that bad."

"Squee!" The monster lunged itself right at Hikan.

"…!" With the little time he had, Hikan blocked the oncoming strike and let his blade absorb the force of the blow.

*Clang* *Crash!*

"Gah!" Hikan crashed to the floor the second the monster's head collided with his weapon. "The hell?!"

Vert sighed. "That's why I need your help..."

Neptune nodded. "So it's one of those situations where the monsters look really weak but are abnormally buff..."

Plutia shivered as she stared at the three monsters. "They're soooo icky..."

"The sooner we kill them, the sooner there won't be any more icky monsters!" I urged her. "So, let's hurry and kill them!"

"Squee!"

*CRASH!*

The three monsters lunged themselves towards our direction. As one approached me, I grabbed it and slammed it into the ground. Once I jumped away, Neptune batted the monsters towards Nepgear who shot a beam of energy towards it, sending it tumbling over next to the monster I defeated. Following that Plutia also batted her weapon at the monster she was fighting, sending it flying to the other two monsters.

I turned to Vert. "Vert!"

She nodded. "I'm on it!"

*CRASH!* *BOOM!*

To her side, a emerald green circle with a glowing aura appeared facing horizontally. From the center of circle, a long, rocky-looking spear shot from the circle and crashed into all three of the monsters.

The spear led and slammed the three monsters into a tree, destroying the trees around along with crumbling the spear, leaving the monsters buried in the ruins of the trees.

I turned to Hikan. "Light 'em up."

He formed a wide grin as his blade was engulfed in flames. He got in front of the trees and raised his flamed blade. "As they say: 'Burn baby burn!'"

*Fhwmph!* *Hshhhhh!* *Crackle, Crackle*

Hikan brought his blade down onto the trees and set the tree remains on fire, burning the area around him. "That should do it."

"Squeeeak!"

"Huh?"

From the depths of the flames, the monsters emerged on the opposite side of us, scorched. "Those things are still alive!?"

Before we could give chase to them, they scurried away. "Well, that's the end of that I guess," we turned to Vert. "Now, can you give us an explanation on what's going on?"

Vert nodded.

*Ching!*

She reverted back to her normal form and released a sigh. "Well, when I came to Leanbox, there were probably around ten or so destroying Leanbox. However, it wasn't much damage. They only destroyed things like newsstands and street lights."

"Okay, but why are you out here when Leanbox is that way?" Hikan asked, pointing behind him, towards Leanbox.

Vert smiled. "Simple. Since more kept coming, I figured out that someone must be making these things appear. So, I decided to follow them."

"And that's when you met us, right?" I finished.

Vert nodded. "Correct. I found you five here," Vert smiled. "So, have you all come to aid me?"

"Well..." Neptune averted her gaze and scratched her head

"Ummmm..." Plutia showed a dry smile.

"You're not going to help me?" Vert asked.

"We would, but they're so icky and gross..." Neptune explained.

"Their eyes are scarrry..." Plutia commented.

"But I've been dealing with them too!" Vert argued. "I can't handle these creatures alone!"

"You're old enough to handle it! You've already bested them in age probably," Neptune tried reassuring her.

"Sis, you shouldn't say things like that," Nepgear pointed out. "It's rude."

"It's fine! Vert is Vert after all!" Neptune stated.

"I can't believe you girls," Vert turned to Hikan, Nepgear and I. "At the least, will you three help me?"

I shrugged. "That's kind of the reason why I came here," I turned to Nepgear. "How about you?"

Nepgear nodded. "Me too."

"Yeah, same here," Hikan agreed.

Vert smiled. "Thank you," Vert thanked. "Now how about we leave these two and head off?"

"Wait!? You're going to leave us?!" Neptune asked in shock.

"Why of course. You did say you didn't want to help, right?" Vert questioned. "So, we're going on without you two."

"B-But...who's going to buy me pudding and give me rides?!" Neptune asked.

"Who's going to carry meee...?!" Plutia wondered.

Hikan let out a chuckle. "That's your problem now."

"Oh, I forgot to mention this," Vert said. "If we fail to stop them, due to you two not aiding us, then they will likely migrate to Planeptune and repopulate there. Thus, spawning more icky, disgusting creatures in your nation."

"WHAT!?" The two Planeptune CPUs' eyes widened.

Vert spun on her heel and began her walk towards the direction of the monsters. "Well, best regards to you two."

"WAIT!" Neptune called out, hugging Vert's ankle. "We'll go with you! Just don't let those monsters come to our nation!"

"Pleassse...!?" Plutia hugged Vert's other ankle.

"Hmmm... I don't know..." Vert pondered, putting a finger to her chin. "You almost left me to die with your friends... That's pretty cruel if you ask me. If only there was some way to convince me..."

"Please! I'll even give you Nepgear!" Neptune offered.

"I'll give you Neppy Jr. tooo...!"Plutia also offered.

"WAIT?! WHAT!?" Nepgear's jaw fell open and she stared at her sister in shock. "N-Neptune?! You would really trade me!?"

Vert formed a devilish smile and hugged Nepgear. "Oh, don't worry Nepgear! I'll give you everything you want!"

Neptune looked up at Vert. "Do we have a deal?"

Vert nodded. "Indeed."

"NEPTUNE!?" Nepgear could only stare at her sister.

"Sorry Nep Jr., but this is for the good of Planeptune," Neptune advised. "Plus, I'll visit sometimes...maybe..."

"B-But..." Nepgear looked over at me. "Silver!? Do something!"

"Vert, don't listen to Neptune," I advised. "If you let us keep Nepgear, you can have Hikan instead."

Vert's eyes lit up. "Really!?"

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Hikan cast me a deadly glare. "WHY ME!?"

I let out a chuckle. "Okay, okay," I looked back at Vert. "How about this? Everytime you come to the Basilicom, you can have possession of them for an hour. During that hour, you can do whatever you'd like with them."

"Alright, I can settle with those terms," Vert's smile widened. "Especially since I have an hour with them all to myself!"

Nepgear and Hikan cast me worried looks. "A-Are you sure about this?" Nepgear asked.

"Yeah. She can do ANYTHING to us in that hour. Aren't you worried?" Hikan also asked.

"It's better than going to live with her," I remarked.

"Then it's a deal!" Vert stated. She looked down at Neptune and Plutia, who were still clinging to Vert's ankles. "Now, can you two let go so that we can hurry and catch those monsters?"

"Oh, sorry!" Neptune apologized. She sprang back to her feet. "Now, let's go beat those ickies up!"

Plutia scrambled to her feet. "Yeeeaahhhh...!"

The two CPUs raced ahead and followed the monsters' tracks. "Should we chase after them?" Nepgear asked.

Vert shook their head. "They'll run out of breath eventually. Plus, like us, those monsters have to run out of energy eventually. So, for now, let's just walk and follow the tracks."

We nodded. "Yeah."

And so, we began our hunt for the monsters and their leader...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Well, here's another chapter for you all! Once it turns to August, which is approaching very soon, I'll start the planning of my next Fanfiction. Yes, I am going to make another, however I won't be spoiling what it's about. I am planning on making it better than Colors of Darkness though. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **-Vote on the poll on my page! Submissions will end in early August!-**


	91. Chapter 91

Chapter 91

After a bit of walking, we had caught up to Neptune and Plutia who had both, once again, collapsed onto the ground due to exhaustion. But that was the only good that had come out of the walk so far.

"Um, I don't mean to be a party pooper or anything, but methinks we lost them," Neptune stated.

I nodded. "I think so too..."

"But there are still tracks," Hikan said, pointing towards the ground.

We all looked down. "Hikan, those are our footprints," Vert pointed out.

"Silly Hicky..." Plutia let out a giggle. "Tricks are for kids...!"

Hikan turned his stare towards Plutia. "Did you just call me Hicky?"

"Yuuup...!" Plutia formed a wide grin.

"Just roll with it," I advised. "Once she gets a nickname, she won't let it go."

Hikan let out a sigh. "Fine."

"Back to the point," Vert snapped us back to reality. "How are we going to find these monsters?"

"Maybe if we camp out for them!" Neptune suggested. "Y'know, we could set down a bucket of fried chicken and wait for them to come for it!"

"Neptune, they're monsters. I'm pretty sure they won't eat fried chicken," Hikan stated.

"You don't know that!" Neptune stated. "Everybody loves fried chicken!"

"… Anyways," I turned to the rest of the group. "What should we do?"

"WAIT!? Are you ignoring me?!" Neptune asked. "But I'm the adorable main character! You can't ignore me!"

"Well, how about you just scan for them?" Hikan asked, also ignoring Neptune. "You've done it before. Can't you just locate them with that scanning power you have?"

I frowned. "I could use it, but I figured out that the more I use it, the easier of a chance I have of receiving terrible side effects.'"

"Are they really that bad?" Hikan asked.

"I don't want to risk it," I said. "Sorry."

"Hold on. I hear something so...shh!" Vert shushed us and put a finger to her lip.

"Hm? I don't hear anything," Neptune stated looking around her.

"Squeak!" A nearby voice cried.

"Hm?" I pulled aside some tree branches to reveal where the sound was coming from. "Um, I wasn't expecting this..."

Neptune peered over my shoulder. "Wow, I guess people with similar looks really do stick together."

"I...wasn't expecting this..." Hikan stared with worry at the sight in front of him.

In front of us, was the entire mob of ugly monsters surrounding their master. Only their master wasn't a monster.

"I knew that guy was sad, but to stoop down to loving monsters," Neptune stared at Mr. Badd with sympathy.

"Hold it right there!" Vert jumped from her hiding, revealing herself to Mr. Badd and the monsters. "You're under arrest!" The rest of us jumped out from our hiding.

"I'm under arrest?! You should be arresting yourselves, CPUs!" Mr. Badd claimed. "You six harmed my daughters! You should be ashamed of yourselves! Attacking my children!"

"…..Come again?" I could only ask for him to repeat his words.

"You heard me! You attacked my children!" Mr. Badd claimed.

"….THESE ARE YOUR CHILDREN!?"

"What's wrong? A businessman can't love his daughters?" Mr. Badd asked.

"No that's not it. But can I ask you a question?" Vert asked. "Who...exactly is the wife?"

"I DON'T HAVE A WIFE! I'M A BACHELOR BUSINESSMAN WITH LOVELY DAUGHTERS!" Mr. Badd shouted.

"I think we should just ignore the fact that he's saying those are his daughters," Hikan advised. "Hey, Silver. You still have that phone?"

"Hm? Sure but it doesn't work here," I explained. "What's up? Why do you need it?"

"I was going to Pokemon GO them all," Hikan formed a wide grin. "Man, I was really hoping to catch them all."

"I wouldn't catch them if you paid me!" Neptune stated. "They're so icky and gross!"

"Neptune! Don't say that!" Nepgear warned her sister.

"ICKY!? DID YOU JUST CALL MY DAUGHTERS ICKY!?" Mr. Badd roared.

"Uh-oh. I think we just turned it into an angry piggy," Neptune said.

"NOBODY, AND I MEAN NOBODY, CALLS MY DAUGHTERS ICKY!" Mr. Badd's face turned to a beet red color. "FOR INSULTING MY DAUGHTERS, I, WITH MY DAUGHTERS, SHALL EXTERMINATE YOU SIX RIGHT HERE AND NOW!"

*CRASH!*

He clicked a button at his suit jacket and a giant mech crashed down behind him. He flopped into the mech suit and the suit locked in. "I'LL CRUSH YOU ALL!"

"Looks like somebody's easily triggered," Neptune commented.

I sighed. "Look what you did Neptune. Not only did you manage to piss off an old guy, but you also initiated a fight with him in another mech suit."

"Well, this is Neptune we're talking about, so this is to be expected," Hikan stated.

"That doesn't matter right now," Vert materialized her spear. "Right now, let's defeat this man and his disgusting monsters!"

"I'LL MURDER YOU ALL!" Mr. Badd roared.

We all drew our weapons. "I guess we have no choice. Let's do this!"

*Bang!* *Clang!* *Crash!* *Shhhhk!*

Somehow, the mech sped towards us and, changing it's right arm into a hammer, slammed it down onto us. I quickly countered by slamming my blade against it, causing the weapons to clash and grind against each other.

*Thud!* *Shwing!* *Bang! Bang!* *Shk! Shk! Shk! Shk!*

While I kept the mech focused, the "daughters" lunged themselves towards me. However, before the monsters could hit me, Neptune and Nepgear slashed them away towards Plutia. Plutia then batted her stuffed plush at the monsters, sending them flying towards Vert. As the monsters got closer and closer to Vert, she created an emerald green circle and many spears shot from the circle, towards the monsters, at lightning speed.

"Rrgh...!" I dug my feet deep into the ground and increased the pressure on my blade. "Yaaah!"

*Bang!* *Boom!*

After applying enough pressure, I pushed against the mech's hammer, sending the mech crashing into a rock. Before the mech could recover, jumping into the air, I lunged towards the mech and brought my blade down onto it.

*Tmp!*

Before my blade could make contact with Mr. Badd's new protective glass, another chromium shield appeared to shield him like before. This time, instead of cutting through it, I kicked off of it and motioned myself to fall towards the top of the mech's head.

*Krsh!* *Kshhh!* *Kshhhhhhhk!* *Ksh! Ksh! Ksh!*

I drove my blade deep into it's head and, enveloping my blade in energy, drove it along down it's back. Reaching the bottom, I jumped away from the mech and pulled my blade away from the mech. The instant I put my blade back into it's sheath, the back half of the mech began blowing sparks and malfunctioning.

*WARNING! SYSTEM MALFUNCTION! SELF DESTRUCTION SEQUENCE INITIATED!*

"Damn it! Not again!" Mr. Badd cursed as he ejected once again from his mech.

*Boom!* *Clang!* *Crash!*

As he shot out from the mech and the mech blew up, I hurled my blade towards Mr. Badd, causing him to crash to the ground.

I looked over towards the others to find a ring of fire trapping the monsters. "I guess you guys are done?"

Hikan turned towards me and grinned. "What else did you expect?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, but that was harder than I expected," Vert stated. "True, we managed to trap them, but they were really difficult to trap, considering their endurance."

Hikan scratched his head. "Yeah... Hate to admit it, but you're right."

I smiled dryly. "Oh well, I'm done here t—"

"You damn bitch!" An unpleasant voice cut me off.

"Maybe not," I turned back to face where Mr. Badd had crashed. "Dude, just stay down! Don't push yourself! I'm not trying to kill you!"

"Haaa...haaa... No!" Mr. Badd dug himself out of the rubble and cast me a deadly glare. "You insulted my daughters! I'll make sure you pay!"

Neptune let out a chuckle. "So, not only does this guy cuss as much as Blanc, but he's also ridiculously stubborn."

"What are you even going to do?" I asked. "Your mech's gone, you're beat up and so are your daughters!"

"Hahaha! That's where you're wrong!" Mr. Badd claimed. "I'll crush you with this!"

"Huh?"

*Vrrr!* *Clang! Clang!* *Ching!* *Clink!*

As we pondered about what Mr. Badd meant, he pressed another button at his suit jacket. This time, his suit's material changed to a chromium metal and a layer of chromium armor plates covered over the suit. The armor plates locked into place and his limbs were also covered over by the chromium plates. Finally, his face was masked by a chromium helmet, leaving only his eyes visible. "NOW, CPUS, I'LL CRUSH YOU ALL RIGHT HERE AND NOW!"

"Wait, what are you—"

*Boom!*

A blinding explosion of light blew up and we shielded our eyes. After the blinding light faded, I looked to see what was in front of me. After seeing what was in front of me, I formed a wide grin. "Well, this could actually be interesting..."

Standing in front of me, was Mr. Badd in a metal suit. But it wasn't any ordinary metal suit. It was the metal Iron Man suit. The blue eye slits, the hand lasers, the Arc Reactor, and the design were all the same. The only difference was that the suit was slightly designed to be bigger to suit Mr. Badd's size.

"HAHAHA! WHAT DO YOU THINK?!" Mr. Badd asked through his helmet.

I let out a loud laugh. "I'll give you credit, old man! This is truly genius! The only downfall is that you're bringing shame wearing the suit with your fat size!"

"Ha! Say that while you can, but after this battle, you'll be begging for mercy!" The Fat Iron Man—which was what Mr. Badd in the Iron Man would be known as—took a stance.

"Hehehe...You're getting my heart pumping," I grinned wryly. I looked back towards the others. "Hey, let me handle him. I want a shot at this new body of his!"

"What!? Are you insane!? You can't beat that!" Hikan claimed.

"Nah, he'll be fine," Neptune reassured. "Look, it's a fat robot man against a boy with two Devils inside of him! Of course Silver will win!"

"I-I don't know... He seems like he won't be a pushover this time..." Nepgear stated.

Vert smiled. "I have faith in Silver. Silver is pretty strong."

Plutia nodded. "Uh-huuuh...! Silvy is suuuper strong...!"

Neptune grinned. "Then how about we place bets on who we think will win?"

"Are you sure it's the time to be doing this?" Hikan asked.

"C'mon! It makes things more interesting!" Neptune claimed. "Plus, if worse comes to worse, we'll help Silver kick that old guy's wrinkly butt!"

Hikan let out a sigh. "Fine..."

I let out another laugh as my Devils slowly crept into my body. "Okay, let's give this a shot! I'm sure you won't be a pushover this time and that you'll actually put up a fight this time," I took a stance. "So how about we go all out?"

"That was exactly what I was going to say," Mr. Badd said. "And I agree. Now, come!"

I closed my eyes and let the two Devils take control of me. "Two Devils versus a Fat Iron Man... This will certainly be interesting..."

"It shall..." The Fat Iron Man agreed.

"…"

"…"

*Bang!* *Crash!*

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This is the end of another chapter! School is going to start back for me pretty soon now and I'm not sure about the school upload schedule yet. However, until then, I'll keep uploading three times a week. We're rapidly approaching 100 chapters and that number makes me pretty proud and scared. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **P.S.:**

 **This was uploaded early because I just had a bit of time.**

 **-Vote on the poll on my page! Submissions will be accepted until early August and will end soon!-**


	92. Chapter 92

Chapter 92

 **Third Person POV**

 **"Alright! Let's give this a shot!"** Silver took a stance and focused his energy to his limbs. **"I'll play on equal terms and fight you with my fists."**

"Hahaha! I'll enjoy smashing your face into the ground!" The Iron Man positioned himself, ready for Silver's attack.

 **"Alright then,"** Silver's eyes showed a faint glint as he readied himself for the right moment to attack. **"…... GRAAH!"**

*Ping!* Ksh!* *Crash!*

In an instant, Silver was in front of the Iron Man, lunging a fist towards his helmet. Before the fist could make contact with the metal helmet, the Iron Man formed an energy shield and quickly repelled Silver's strike. As Silver's fist was knocked back, the Iron Man grabbed Silver by his neck and, activating his boosters, drove Silver crashing into a nearby boulder.

*VRNNNNN!* *BOOM!*

The second the Iron Man released his grip on Silver, Silver lunged forward and drove his fist towards the Iron Man's Arc Reactor. Before the fist could hit the reactor, an energy beam shot out from the reactor and blew Silver back into the boulder, demolishing it. "HAHAHAHA! Had enough yet?"

Silver dug himself from the boulder's rubble and grinned another wry smile at the Iron Man. **"You must be kidding, right?! Of course I won't quit! This battle won't end until I die or you give up!"**

"Well then, I guess I'll have to quickly kill you before this turns into a fruitless struggle!" The Iron Man said.

 **"Then how about I increase my power? I'd like to keep this fun for a little while before I end this,"** Silver cracked his knuckles and took another stance. This time, he activated his body to act at eighty percent and switched to Level Three. **"Now then, I hope you have a spare of that suit, because I'm about to rip it to shreds!"**

"All talk! Prove it to me first!" The Iron Man demanded.

 **"Hehehe..."** Silver let out a small laugh. **"Alright. Get ready..."**

"…"

 **"…"**

"…"

 **"…"**

*Clunk!*

"Yaaah!"

*BRNNNNNNN!* *CRSH!* *KSHHHH!*

At the sound of the pebble's sound hitting the ground, a energy beam shot from the Iron Man's reactor. Silver dashed forward and slammed his fist against the beam. He then increased the power of his fist and drove deeper into the beam. **"Yaah!"**

*KSH!* VRNNNNN!* *KRSH!* *KSH!*

After clashing with enough energy, the beam dispersed and Silver stopped time. Within his ten second timeframe, Silver focused all his energy to his feet and sped towards the frozen Iron Man. A few feet away from it, Silver created a ball of energy and drove it into the Arc reactor as time resumed.

 **"Raaah!"**

"AGH!"

 **"Gh!"**

*Vrn! Vrn!* *CRASH!* *CRACK!*

Before he could fully destroy the Arc reactor, the Iron Man shot two lasers from his hands and caused Silver to jump back. The instant he recovered his footing, the two of them lunged towards each other and slammed their fists against each other's face, blowing them both away.

"Haa... Damn! I only got forty percent of the Arc Reactor's energy left to use," The Iron Man muttered as he pulled himself out of a crater. "Better tune up the suit to one hundred percent!"

 **"Oh? Are we going all out?"** Silver cocked his head and grinned as he broke the trees in his way. **"In that case, I'll go all out as well!"** Silver closed his eyes and increased his body to act at one hundred percent. **"I better finish this fast. I only have five minutes..."**

"Then let us end this..."

*FWSH!* *KSH!* *HSHHHHH!*

At those last words, Silver projected his Devil's energy out into the air. **"Graaah!"**

The energy formed a cloak of energy around Silver and transformed into a cloak of armor, giving him the appearance of a Devil.

While the rest of the armor pieces were just basically red armor plates, there were some new attachments and the helmet was the only thing that looked different compared to the rest of the armor. Now, he had a pair of crimson and black demon wings along with a blood red tail with a pointed end.

The helmet had a pair of glowing red eye slits, a pair of black, goat-like horns and black spikes going down along the helmet's back. To add on to that, his teeth had been sharpened to be shark-like and his helmet had been set ablaze, leaving mainly his eyes and mouth visible.

 **"What do you think? This is my true form!"** Silver formed a broadsword from his energy. **"I'm going to end this all right here and now!"**

"And I'll do the same..." The Iron Man formed a giant sledgehammer and readied it. "It's time we end this!"

 **"Yeah..."**

*Bang!* Clang!* *Boom! Boom! Boom!* *VRNNNN!*

The Iron Man boosted towards Silver and brought his hammer down on Silver. As the hammer came down, Silver uppercutted the hammer and sent it flying into the air. Silver then stepped forward and slashed down at the Arc Reactor. The Iron Man quickly shot backwards and fired a barrage of missiles at Silver. But, instead evading them, Silver slashed at the missiles and created a wave of energy that disintegrated all the missiles.

 **"…!"**

*HSHHHH!*

Passing through the fading energy wave, the Iron launched towards Silver and threw a punch his way. Quickly forming energy into his hands, Silver evaded the Iron Man's punch and pressed his hands against the metal suit.

"What the!?"

The Iron Man suddenly jumped back as his chestplate began to melt. "What the hell did you do!?"

 **"Simple. chromium is a type of metal, so it can be melted. So, I simply just melted the chromium,"** Silver explained. **"And now, since there are two weak points you have, I'll finish this fight."**

*Clang!* *Shk!* *Shwing!* *Bang!*

Silver increased his speed and zoomed up to the Iron Man and, before it could react, began slicing away at the armor plates. Before Silver could slice the entire suit into pieces, Mr. Badd used his still-intact boosters and shot up into the air.

*Bang!*

 **"You really think I'd let you escape?"** Silver asked as he shot up into the air after Mr. Badd. **"You pig! I'm not letting you escape!"**

* * *

"Alright, I think I shook him off of me," Mr. Badd muttered as he looked back down. "What the?!"

 **"What's wrong? You look like you just saw a demon or something!"** Silver formed a wide grin. **"Don't worry. I'll help you get over that fear right now!"**

*Bang!* *Shiwng!* *Ching!*

Silver boosted his speed and sped towards Mr. Badd, slashing away at his boosters once he reached him. The second the booster fell off, Mr. Badd began his fall back towards the ground.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

 **"Well, I guess I'm done here,"** Silver quickly landed back onto the ground and let his armor disappear. **"Guess my job here is done. Pretty glad that I managed to spare a minute."**

* * *

 **Silver's POV**

"AHHHHHHHH!" Mr. Badd continued screaming.

"So how long do you think he's going to continue screaming like that?" Hikan asked.

"I don't care! It's entertaining to watch, and we have front row seats!" Neptune chimed in.

"I like it when he screams..." Plutia added.

"To think that I was made a fool of by this fool," Vert let out a soft moan. "Maybe I should be a bit more serious about my duties instead of visiting Nepgear all the time..."

"Yeah! Nepgear is my gear! Find your own gear!" Neptune stuck out her tongue.

"U-Um...Silver?" Nepgear tugged on my sleeve. "Do you think he's had enough yet?"

I sighed. "I guess..."

"AHHHHH!" Mr. Badd continued screaming.

*Slap!*

I slapped his cheek with my backhand. "Hey, stop screaming! You're not falling anymore!"

"H-Huh?" Mr. Badd peeked his eyes open only to see us upside down. "W-What have you done?! Why am I still upside down!?"

I snickered. "Look at your feet."

"You little...!" Mr. Badd cursed under his breath once he saw that I was holding his feet up, allowing him to dangle in the air and feel like he was still falling. "Put me down!"

"Okay."

*Thud!*

I let go of his feet and Mr. Badd fell, face-first, to the ground. Quickly he rose back up. "Damn you! But why haven't you killed me?"

I shrugged. "I just wanted to beat you and chase you out of here. That's it."

"And my daughters?" Mr. Badd asked, looking around for the monsters.

Hikan jabbed his thumb behind him. "Right there. Take them and leave."

"I guess I'll retreat this time," Mr. Badd walked to his "daughters" and they took their leave.

"Well, that's that! And it's all thanks to me!" Neptune boasted.

"Neptune, Plutia did more than you," I remarked.

"Ugh, don't ruin my moment!" Neptune whined.

"Back to the point," Vert cut us off. "Thank you all for helping me. I appreciated it."

"Don't mention it," I said. "But don't you need some help cleaning up Leanbox?"

"I hope you're joking. Those damages to Leanbox were nothing more than minor. I'll be fine on my own," Vert reassured us. "But is there any way I could thank you for aiding me?"

"Yeah! Give me all the games Leanbox has, including the pre-order exclusive ones!" Neptune demanded.

"Um...it that really what you all would like?" Vert asked curiously.

I shook my head. "Just let us stay at a hotel for a bit to rest."

"Oh? Are we spending the night at a hotel?" Neptune curiously asked. "Do I get room service?"

"We're going to be staying there for an hour or two, I explained. "We're going to rest there, but I don't mind if you order room service. Just make sure you're well rested before we head out again."

"Roger dodger!" Neptune saluted.

* * *

"Here we are. This is one of the finest suites Leanbox has to offer," Vert said as she opened the door to the hotel suite. "I hope you all will enjoy your short stay."

Hikan gulped. "This is fancier than any place I've ever seen..."

"It's soooo big...!" Plutia's jaw fell as she took in the sight of the suite.

"Hey, Vert?" Neptune, with bright eyes, turned to Vert. "Can I live here? It's so fancy and I don't have to get lectured by Mini-Histy."

Vert smiled. "Why, of course. But only if you give me Nepgear."

"WHAT!?" Nepgear clung to my arm. "Not again!"

"Vert, we're not trading," I said. "All we're going to do is stay here for an hour or two. So, no stealing sisters or trading for them."

"Fine..." Vert and Neptune chorused.

"Good," I smiled.

"I guess I'll take my leave then," Vert stated. "Once again, thank you."

"Don't mention it, Verty!" Neptune said. "I am the protagonist after all! I'll always be there to save the day!"

"Seeya," we waved her goodbye.

As soon as she left, the girls all rushed in the suite and began exploring around the different rooms. "Honestly, if this isn't the most luxurious room, I can't imagine what could be in the best suite," I muttered.

"Seriously," Hikan agreed. "This place is already fancier than anywhere I've ever lived at."

"I'll say," I said as I began exploring the rooms.

The suite's bedroom—with three white, king-sized beds—had a flat amber roof with recessed lights, wallpapers of a forest green color and was carpeted with a golden color that had a flower design. At the bedsides, there were polished, pinewood nightstands, each had a lamp, hotel phone and a vanilla-scented candle. On the opposite side of the beds was a sixty-four inch, plasma-screen TV attached to the wall. Underneath the TV, was an oak wood table with a remote sitting on it.

I took my eyes off the TV and looked back over at the beds to find Neptune on the phone, Hikan flicking through TV channels with a spare remote and Plutia lying on one of the beds, sleeping her problems away. "Good grief..."

"Yes, I'd like you to bring me all of the finest pudding you've got!" Neptune demanded at the person she was talking to; probably room service. "How many Credits!?"

"What's wrong?" I walked up to her side.

"Um...do you, by any chance, have ten thousand Credits?" Neptune asked in her most polite tone.

I sighed and produced the amount from my wallet. "Here, go crazy."

"Thanks bud!" Neptune thanked as she returned to the person on the phone.

"I wonder where Nepgear is..." I muttered as I continued to explore. "Woah..."

The bathroom was the next room I stumbled upon. The room was lit by multiple recessed lights. At a corner of the room was a walk-in shower with a clear glass sliding door and an assortment of shampoos, bar soaps, body wash and conditioner on a rack hanging under the shower head. The floor was marble tiled with a beige color, the sink had granite tops, with cabinets underneath containing skin care products, toothbrushes, toothpaste, razors and shaving cream. Also, the toilet was just a toilet with a black lid.

However, the best part of the bathroom was the jacuzzi that was in the middle of the bathroom. Even if it was a bathroom, the jacuzzi was still a nice touch. It was built into the floor and was right beside the glass wall that gave a view of the city. The jacuzzi had the usual massaging jets on four sides, but this one also had bath lights to change the water's color and a bubble maker. The jacuzzi was round and had the diameter of a meeting table, causing it to take up most of the bathroom, with one side of the wall holding a rack with a large stack of towels.

"Maybe I'll spend some time in here later or get a room sometime," I muttered. "At least I know there's a jacuzzi."

I exited the bathroom and continued into the last room—the kitchen.

The kitchen was about the size of an office. It was a square space with black and white checkered floor tiles, the walls were a maroon red color and the cabinets were a black color. There was a space grey colored fridge in a corner of the room, cutting boards, pots, pans and knives hung from a wall and wooden countertops aligned the edges of the room. At the other end of the room was a sink, a stove with a black hood beside it, a oven underneath the stove and a crimson microwave sitting at a corner of the room.

"Oh, there you are," I peered into the kitchen to find Nepgear chopping away at some tomatoes on a cutting board. "Whatcha doing?"

"Hm?" She stopped chopping for a second and smiled when she saw me. "Ah, Silver. What are you doing in here?"

"I was looking for you of course," I answered.

"I don't know why. All I'm doing is making snacks for—Kyahh!" Nepgear jumped a bit into the air once my arms wrapped around her. "S-Silver! Don't hug me from behind so suddenly! I have a knife and I don't want to hurt you..."

"Sorry, sorry," I rested my head on her shoulder. "I just did it without thinking."

Nepgear let out a sigh. "Goodness... Just don't do it so suddenly again, okay?"

I smiled. "Alright..."

"By the way," Nepgear cast me quick glance. "Have you figured out what to do about Plutia yet?"

I sighed. "Sort of... I haven't worked out all the kinks yet, but I have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to do..."

"Hey, Silver..." Nepgear stopped chopping and quietly set down the knife. "Do you remember what you promised me?"

"Hm?" I gazed into her eyes. "Which promise?"

She turned back to me. "You promised you would always stay with me," Nepgear reminded me.

I smiled. "That's right, and I meant those words."

"Then...what are you going to do about Plutia?" Nepgear asked. "Are you going to hurt her feelings or hurt mine?"

I pulled her into a hug and let her head nuzzle with my chest. "You know that I wouldn't ever you hurt you, and you know that I won't hurt Plutia's feelings either. I'll find a way to make this work..."

"A-Are you sure...?" Nepgear pessimistically stared at me.

I let out a chuckle. "It's been a while since you've acted pessimistically in front of me," I remarked.

"B-But...how do I know you'll really do it?" Nepgear asked as she tightened her hold on me.

"Simple," I leaned in close to Nepgear and pressed my lips against her, tasting the warm and sweet sensation.

After exchanging a few kisses, I pulled her back into a hug. "How are you feeling now?" I asked in a hushed voice.

"I-I guess you're right..." Nepgear flashed me a small smile. "I'll believe in you..."

"Thanks," I gave her a light kiss on her forehead. "Now, how about I help you make snacks?"

Nepgear smiled brightly. "Thank you!"

And as I helped Nepgear, I thought about how I was going to tell Plutia...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here's the end of another chapter. I hope you liked the references I put this week. But there isn't much to say this time. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **-Vote on the poll on my page! Submissions end soon!-**


	93. Chapter 93

Chapter 93

*Clink*

"Haaa... I alright. I guess we've made enough to last the rest of our trip," Nepgear wiped away the sweat at her brow. She turned her head towards me and flashed me a bright smile. "Thanks for helping me, Silver! It really means a lot to me!"

I returned her smile. "No problem. Just spending time with you makes me happy."

Nepgear blushed a bit and continued to smile. "W-Well... All we have to do now is just pack these up and then we can spend our last hour doing whatever we want."

I nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

While Hikan was off with Plutia and Neptune doing whatever, Nepgear and I had spent an hour in the kitchen making onigiri. We didn't have too much to use or a lot of time to make good ones, so we had just made a bunch of seasoned onigiri. In the end, we still made quite a bit, having four boxes each filled with a different type of onigiri.

After we had finished packing up the onigiri, I helped Nepgear clean up the kitchen and we returned to bedroom, where everyone else was. Neptune was eating away at a giant pile of pudding cups, Plutia was still asleep and Hikan was eating the pudding with Neptune.

Upon returning to the bedroom, Hikan turned to us, a spoon in his mouth. "Or. Ar your gays done?"

I blinked. "Come again?"

Hikan swallowed his pudding and took his spoon out of his mouth. "Sorry. I asked, 'Are you guys done?'"

Nepgear nodded. "Yes. We have enough food to last the entire trip!"

"What about...y'know," Hikan said, batting his eyes towards Neptune's giant pudding stash. "What about the pudding?"

I shrugged. "Neptune has to either finish it in this hour, or we'll just bag it up and take it with us."

"NO! Dish putting ish arl mine!" Neptune spat out the words as she ate.

I turned to Hikan. "Care to translate?"

"I think she just said that the pudding was all her's," Hikan translated.

I shrugged. "Well, Neptune, you did borrow MY money, so if you think about it, it's really MY pudding!"

"Bleh!" Neptune stuck out her tongue and licked all the pudding cups. "There! Now you can't have any! All of them belong to Nep!"

"Sis, I think that's a bit too extreme," Nepgear commented.

I let out a chuckle. "It's also extremely childish."

"But that's why my fans love me!" Neptune stated. "It's because I'm the adorable, silly main character!"

"Whatever," I stretched my body a bit. "I'm gonna go to the jacuzzi. You guys can just keep being yourselves."

"I'm going to nap," Hikan turned the TV off, tossed the remote aside, flopped onto the bed and pulled the blankets over his head. "Wake me up when it's time to leave."

I shrugged and began my walk towards the jacuzzi.

* * *

*Hshhhh!*

"Ahhh... This is nice," I slumped into the jacuzzi and let the water come a bit above my lips. I watched as the bubbles continued to bubble around me. I'm just glad that I can make a pair of swimming trunks using energy. Although it's a completely stupid and useless reason to use it, it was still convenient.

 _"If I think about it, it's been years since I've arrived here in Gamindustri,"_ I thought. _"I'm happy to be here and all, but why was I transported here? Why had us Spawns been transported here?"_

I closed my eyes and decided to lose myself in my own thoughts. _"I'm not complaining though. I met Nepgear, Neptune, Noire, Hikan and all these people because I was transported here,"_ I frowned. _"But I can't forget about the Darkness. That's the thing that I'm still burdened to take out. I can't forget that. Darkness exists everywhere. In this dimension, Hyperdimension, my dimension and many others._

 _"But I'll have to destroy Gamindustri's Darkness before I handle the one inside of me. If I can't truly defeat the Darkness in Gamindustri, then I have no chance of defeating the one inside of me..."_

I blew out into the water and caused air bubbles to blow up in my face. _"If I could've changed one thing in my past, it'd probably just to be able to have a bubble bath,"_ I joked.

*Creeeaak*

"…?" I lifted my head out of the water and turned to face the door that had creaked open. Standing at the door was Nepgear. I blushed at the sight of her. "U-Um...Nepgear? W-Why are you in here!?"

"U-Um...I wanted to come in the jacuzzi with you. I-Is that alright?" Nepgear asked with her face down as she pressed her index fingers together. Her face was also red.

"U-Um...sure," my blush deepened. "B-But...do you have a bathing suit?"

Nepgear nodded timidly and began to unbutton her outfit in front of me. I turned away and covered my face. "What's wrong, Silver?" Nepgear asked.

"U-Um...shouldn't you change outside?" I asked. "I thought you said you had a bathing suit..."

*Fwp!*

"I-I do... Look," Nepgear said.

Carefully, I uncovered my face and turned my head back to her. I sighed with relief when I saw she did have a bathing suit on. "Thank goodness..."

She wore a dark purple one-piece swimsuit with pink and white accents. Right beside her were her clothes and shoes, lying on the floor.

"W-What's wrong?" Nepgear asked as she squirmed around. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"I-I thought...you weren't wearing anything underneath..." I murmured.

Nepgear's flushed face turned into a brighter shade of red. "S-Silver! D-Don't say things like that! I-It's embarrassing!"

"Sorry..." I apologized.

"Goodness..." Nepgear let out a sigh and sat down beside me. She smiled. "Ahhh... It feels so nice..."

"Yeah..." I agreed.

"What's wrong?" Nepgear cocked her head. "You're never this nervous or quiet."

"I was just thinking about how I got here, to Gamindustri. I was thinking about how I met you and everyone else. It made me really happy," I said. By the time I had told Nepgear this, I was wearing a wide grin.

Nepgear responded with a smile also. "I'm also glad I met you. You helped me with a lot," she pulled her body close and into a hug, allowing my body to feel a soft sensation. "Pus, I now have a wonderful boyfriend."

"Thanks," I planted my lips on her forehead and patted her head. "I'm glad you're my girlfriend."

Nepgear nuzzled against my chest. "I'm glad you're my boyfriend..."

"By the way," I looked down at her. "Why are you in here anyways?"

Nepgear let out a soft giggle. "Well, Neptune, Plutia and Hikan were all asleep, and I couldn't fall sleep. So I decided to come and relax with you."

"Thanks," I poked at her cheek. "I'm glad you're so thoughtful."

"Ehehehe..." Nepgear pressed even closer to me. "I love you, Silver..."

"I love you too, Nepgear..."

* * *

"Y'know, you two are like a married couple," Hikan pointed out as he watched Nepgear and I.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, you two always take walks together and cling to each other. Silver, you always hug Nepgear from behind when she's making food like in those kitchen scenes in movies. Also, you two make food together, just like a mother and father would," Hikan formed a wide grin. "If you two ever had kids, I'd bet you'd spoil them rotten."

I sighed. "I don't even want to think about that right now. I have enough on my plate right now."

"Yeah! Besides, they're not allowed to get married without MY permission!" Neptune stated.

"…" I looked over at Plutia to see her head bowed down. If I was going to fix my relationship with her, I was going to have to do it soon.

* * *

"Alright, are we all ready to go?" I asked.

They all nodded and we left the hotel. "Alright! Forward towards Lastation!"

We exited the hotel and began our walk to Leanbox. "I'm hungryyyy!" Neptune whined.

Hikan and I turned back to her. "You just ate all that pudding!" We shouted in unison.

"But that was like five minutes ago! The past is the past! This is now!" Neptune claimed.

"That's just an excuse," I said.

"But I'm SO hungry!" Neptune whined, latching onto my back. "I need FOOD!"

I let out a moan. "Fine, what do you want to eat?"

"I want to eat one of those giant burgers!" Neptune said, pointing towards a nearby fast food restaurant.

My eyes widened. "Oh god. You want to eat from there!?"

Neptune nodded. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"In my world, that fast food restaurant is one of the most well known restaurants in the world," I gulped. "McDonalds..."

"Woooow..." Plutia gasped. "That sounds like a clown's namee...!"

"But, Silver, that one's called WcDonalds!" Neptune pointed out. "They can't be THAT similar."

"Even though only one letter is changed, I'm pretty sure they're the same exact place," I said.

"Well, I don't care!" Neptune said. "I want a Big Wac!"

I shuddered at the thought of the burger. "You want the Obesity Burger?"

"Why did you call it the Obesity Burger?" Neptune asked.

I shrugged. "You'll find out once you try it..."

"Bring it on!" Neptune shouted.

* * *

"Here we are, Lastation," I announced.

"That's weird," Hikan looked around. "There's no one around."

"It's sooo quiet..." Plutia said.

"I-It's...kind of creepy..." Nepgear pointed out.

"S-So...full...ughhh..." Neptune rested on my back.

I sighed. "I warned you, didn't I?"

After Neptune had eaten her Big Wac, she had gotten a terrible stomachache. Afterwards, it was followed by five more stomachaches. In the end, Neptune couldn't handle the monstrosity of the Big Wac. Her stomachaches had subsided, but she was still in no condition to move.

So, I had to carry her on my back while she drooled onto my jacket. But once we had reached Lastation, there was nobody in sight. No citizens or guards or anybody.

"Neptune, we all warned you," Nepgear said. "You shouldn't have eaten that."

"Let's just let her rest for now," I said. "We're here to help Noire."

"FUCK YOU BLACK HEART! YOUR SYSTEM IS COMPLETE SHIT!" A voice roared.

"I think we found our problem," Hikan said.

We ran towards where the voices were coming from as they grew louder the closer we got. Once we reached the source of the problem, we found all of Lastation's citizens formed in an angry mob around the Basilicom while the guards tried desperately to prevent the angry mob from storming into the Basilicom.

"I'M MOVING! THIS DIGITAL SYSTEM IS THE WORST!"

"WHAT KIND OF A CPU ARE YOU!? YOU CAN'T EVEN PROTECT US FROM A SIMPLE HACK!"

"YOU'RE NOT WORTHY TO BE OUR CPU!"

"YOU'RE NO CPU!"

"Yup, I think we found the source of our problem," I nodded.

"We have to get to Noire," Hikan said.

"But how? How are we going to get pass all these people?" Nepgear asked.

"Simple," I smiled wryly. "I'll slow down time, and we'll quickly sneak into the Basilicom."

"Alright, let's do this then," Hikan said.

I reached out my hands. "Here, grab a hold of me," I instructed.

Hikan took my shoulder, Nepgear took my left hand and Plutia took my right hand. "Alright, here we go," I closed my eyes and activated Level Two, slowing down time. When I opened my eyes, everybody was slowed down. I released Nepgear and Plutia's hands while Hikan took his hand off my shoulder.

"Let's go."

We walked forward, evading the slowed-down citizens and made our way towards the Basilicom...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Chapter done! So, we're now moving onto Lastation for Noire's side of things. Also, school is approaching dangerously fast for me. Usually, people panic over school starting back up, but I don't. If things go the way I want it to, then I should start uploading four times a week once school starts. If not, we'll see. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **-Vote on the poll on my page! Submissions end once midnight strikes for me! So this is your last chance to vote if you haven't!-**


	94. Chapter 94

Chapter 94

After getting pass the angry mob and the Lastation guards, the five of us were now in front of the door to Noire's place.

"So, what do you think she's doing this time?" I asked the others.

"She's probably doing work," Nepgear suggested.

"Aww, Nep Jr., why do you have to say the boring, right answers?" Neptune—who had recovered from her sickness—frowned at her sister. "You gotta make more wild guesses!"

"Wild? Like what?" Nepgear wondered.

Neptune formed a wide grin. "Like how she's probably sulking about how she wishes she had friends right now or how she wishes she could stop being so Tsundere!"

"Or maybe she's sleeping allll her problems away...!" Plutia suggested.

"I'm not sure," Hikan disagreed. "Maybe she's trying on clothes in the mirror..."

"Nah! Noire always wears the same outfit everyday! There's no way she'd try on something new!" Neptune stated.

"Or maaaybe she's talking to herself in the mirror...!" Plutia suggested.

"Yep, yep! That's gotta be it!" Neptune agreed. "Good job, Plutie!"

I shrugged and held the doorknob. "Well, let's see who's right..."

*Crash!*

Before I could get the door open, Neptune kicked the door open and barged into Noire's living quarters. "Neptune!? Why'd you kick the door open!?" I shouted.

Neptune wore her usual smile and shrugged. "I thought it'd be cool! Y'know, like all those SWAT people or whatever!"

"I'm surprised you know what that is," I muttered.

Nepgear stared worriedly at the door Neptune just kicked open. "D-Do you think we'll have to pay for this?"

"Relax, little Nep! We can blame it on Santa Claus!" Neptune reassured Nepgear.

"Neptune, it's not even close to Christmas yet," I stated. "There are probably still four months until then. Plus, Santa enters through a chimney."

"Don't sweat the small things! Oh, and that reminds me! We should all have a Christmas party this year!" Neptune suggested. "Silver will be giving all of us presents, he'll be making all of us food, he'll be our jester and us girls can all take turns kissing with him under the mistletoe!"

"WHAT!? REALLY!?" Nepgear, Plutia and I all screamed the words at the same time.

"Um, Neptune? You do know that neither your sister or Silver would like that, right?" Hikan asked.

Neptune giggled. "Yeah, that's why it's a joke! Doy!" Neptune winked at Nepgear and I.

I sighed. "Whatever. Let's just go find Noire."

"She's probably in a mess in her room," Neptune claimed. "Them loners always do such strange things!"

I walked towards Noire's room and pulled the door open. "Oh, wow."

"WHO THE HELL WOULD DO THIS!" Noire shouted.

"And here we see the rare Noire Tsundere species in her natural habitat..." Neptune whispered in her best Australian accent. "Let's get a closer look..."

"Huh?" Noire turned to us. "HUH!? W-Why are you all here!?"

Neptune waved at Noire. "Howdy Noire! We're here to make you feel like you actually have friends!" Neptune shouted.

"Get out of here! I'm NOT in the mood!" Noire demanded.

Plutia sniffled. "Aww... Noire's being mean again..."

"I-I didn't mean you, Plutia!" Noire got up from the desk she was sitting at, ran over to Plutia and patted her head. "I-I'm not mad at you! I-I was talking about Neptune! She was being loud."

"Ohhhh...okaaay...!" Plutia smiled. "Yaaay...! Noire's not mad at meee.!"

Neptune, however, frowned. "How come she treats Plutia so nicely...?" Neptune muttered.

"Nevermind that," I ignored Neptune's comment. "How's the situation here in Lastation?"

"I made everything here digital. So, since somebody hacked us, nothing works anymore!" Noire explained, her voice steadily rising. "And I haven't been able to find neither the culprit of the one who hacked our servers or a solution to this hack!"

"Geez, you're pretty dumb Noire," Neptune jabbed. "See, this isn't a problem in Planeptune."

"That's because Planeptune doesn't DO anything!" Noire stated.

"Well, I guess—!" Sensing something around I swiped behind me and caught something. While it wriggled around in my closed fist, I crushed it and opened my hand. "This...is a spy drone..."

It had seemed to be modeled to look like a fly, however, after crushing it, the insides revealed a crumb-sized camera along with a bunch of chips.

"Really? Let me see?" Nepgear peered over my shoulder to examine the item in my hand. After seeing what was in my hand, Nepgear's eyes began to sparkle. "Goodness! It really is a spy drone!"

"But why would there be a spy drone in here?" Hikan asked.

"That's simple!" Neptune stated. "Noire simply likes to watch the video feed late at night and feel like she's actually done something in her life!"

Plutia shook her head. "How saaaad, Noire,,,,"

Noire's cheeks flushed a bright red. "I-I do not like looking at myself work!" Noire rejected. "I didn't even put that camera in here!"

"The better question is why is it in here?" I turned to Noire. "Did you ever install any hidden cameras or drones in here?"

"No," Noire shrugged. "There was never point for me to have them."

"Wow Noire," Hikan shook his head. "That's poor home security, y'know that?"

"S-Shut up!" Noire demanded.

"Back on topic here," I said. "If Noire didn't put this drone spy camera in here, there could, not only be more, but possibly someone watching you right at this second."

Noire's eyes widened and she grew a light blush. "W-What!? That's so creepy! Where is it!?"

I shrugged. "It could be anywhere in your room. In your TV, your couch, ceiling, shelf, desk, your closet, your underwear, your—"

"AHHH! STOP! STOP! STOP! I GET IT!" Noire flailed her arms and I stopped my list. "Just help me find them all!"

"Wow, not only is Noire stupid, but she also has the weird fanbase," Neptune commented. "Noire, you may be number one on the poll charts, but at least I don't attract the weird ones."

"S-Shut up!" Noire repeated.

"If we find all the cameras, do you think we could find the one who also hacked all the servers?" Hikan asked. "This person stalking Noire could possibly be the one who hacked the servers."

I nodded. "That is very possible," I agreed and turned my head to Nepgear. "Do you, by any chance, have a device for this?"

Nepgear smiled and her eyes sparkled once again. "Of course I do!" She pulled out a black, metal and box-shaped device with two antennas attached to the top from God-knows-where. "Ta-da! This is my wiretap finder-ma-bob!" Nepgear proudly showed it off to us.

"Hey, um, Nepgear?" Nepgear turned to me. "Just out of curiosity, why do you have that thing with you?"

"Huh? What do you mean? Isn't this what all the girls are carrying around these days? It was on the trending list on the Amazoo store's technology section," Nepgear stated.

"Wooow... I gotta get one now..." Plutia said.

"No you don't," Neptune objected. "This kid sister 'o mine just loves her tech. She practically breaths that stuff."

Noire sighed and looked between Neptune and Nepgear. "She truly is your sister."

"Well, they always did say that nobody was perfect..." I muttered.

"So how are you going to find the other cameras? Y'know, with that...thing..." Hikan could only stare at Nepgear's device with a puzzled expression.

"Simple! We don't know if there's a microphone with the cameras, but it should have an audio device at the least," Nepgear explained. "So, if there are audio devices in here... Ah!"

The "tracker" began to blink a red color and it's screen displayed three nearby dots. "There are three devices in this room!" Nepgear stated.

Neptune smiled. "Good job, Nepgear! Your tech actually was useful for once!"

Nepgear dropped her head. "I don't know whether to take that as either a compliment or an insult..."

"That's great and all..." Noire's eyes showed pure terror. "But did you just say that there were three in THIS room!?"

"Huh? Yes, there are three in this room. However I haven't scanned the other rooms yet," Nepgear explained.

Noire's skin turned pale and her jaw fell open. "T-Three...in this...room..."

"Well, on the bright side, at least it worked," Hikan remarked. "That means, the sooner we find this person, the sooner we can destroy these cameras and drones."

Noire nodded. "I guess... Thanks, Nepgear..."

Nepgear smiled. "It's no problem. I'm glad my tech came in handy for once!"

A screen popped up. "Another one?"

 **Nepgear has mastered the "Electronic Otaku" ability**

"Yay! I actually kinda like this one!" Nepgear said with glee. "All we need to do now is just track the signal from where it's coming from. We just have to hurry. The hacker has probably figured out that we're on to them by now."

"Right!" We ran out of Noire's room with Nepgear in the lead.

"WAIT!" The girls stopped at my call.

"What's wrong?" Noire asked. "We have to hurry before this person gets away!"

"No, it's not that," I pointed out of Noire's window, towards the mob still gathered outside. "How are we going to get pass that mob outside?"

"Oh, yeah," Noire scratched her head. "How about we just fly out the window? They won't be able to rip us to shreds that way."

I shook my head. "They'll still see us and follow us. We wouldn't be able to stay in the air long enough to outlast them, and, eventually, we'd fall to the ground to meet a savage mob of protesters."

"I guess you're right..." Noire frowned. "Then how are we going to get out?"

"Oh! Oh! I knooow...!" Plutia formed a wide grin. "We can have Neppy Jr. make a giiiiant robot and make it torture all of them...!"

A cold sweat formed at Nepgear's brow. "U-Um, please no..."

"How about you slow down time again, Silver?" Hikan suggested. "It helped us get into the Basilicom, so why don't you use it to help us sneak to the destination without anyone noticing?"

I shrugged. "I guess we could do that," I admitted. "But we would only have a ten second time frame before it would start putting a major strain on my body.."

"That's enough time," Hikan said. "All we have to do is run over there and cover the most ground in the ten seconds."

"Alright, then let's do it," I said as I opened the window.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Noire asked.

"We're exiting from the window," I answered. "It'll save more time anyways."

"But we can't jump out! We'll die from a fall from that high!" Hikan shouted.

"It's fine," I formed a cloud-like platform near the ground. "We can just land on that platform. It'll cushion our fall."

Noire sighed. "Fine. I guess if it's the only option..."

"Yay! Now I can finally jump outta a building and feel like an awesome parkourer!" Neptune bounced up and down excitedly. "Let's do this!"

"Alright," I turned to the others. "Grab a hold of me for a second."

The others clung to a different part of my body and I closed my eyes. "…"

I felt the coldness enter the air and I opened my eyes. Time had slowed down. "Alright, let's go!"

I ran towards the window, jumped out and, upon making contact with the platform, performed a PK Roll. I landed on my feet as I hit the ground and was followed by the others soon after. "Let's go!"

We dashed through the crowd and allowed Nepgear to lead us towards the hacker's location...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here's another chapter done! _HeavensDownfall_ , the thing with Plutia and Silver will be revealed very soon in an upcoming chapter. But you should try not to get too excited, it might not be what you expect. There will, however, be two parts to the Plutia and Silver event. The first part will be in an upcoming chapter, and the other will be in a future chapter. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **P.S.**

 **The poll has ended, and the results have been tallied. The winning choice will be in the sequel to Colors of Darkness. If any of you saw the results before the poll was removed from my page, then you'll know the answer for the sequel. If you do know, please try not to spoil it.**


	95. Chapter 95

Chapter 95

*Beep!* *Beep!*

"We're getting really close. The signals keep getting stronger!" Nepgear announced as she continued watching her screen and leading us.

"To think that this person would be hiding in the factory that was destroyed," I sighed. "That's a pretty smart idea..."

"It doesn't matter! Let's just hurry and find this hacker!" Noire ordered as she ran ahead.

"Hey! Where are you going!? You don't even know which way to go!" Hikan shouted after Noire. "Should we give chase?"

I shrugged. "She'll stop eventually."

* * *

After we caught up with Noire, Nepgear continued her lead as we reached the end of the factory.

*Beep!* *Beep!* *Beep!*

"Ah! They're right here!" Nepgear announced.

"Really!?" Noire materialized her blade. "Point to where they are so that I can pound them into the ground!"

"Why are you so obsessed with killing this person?" Hikan asked.

"They hacked my servers and stalked me! That deserves death!" Noire claimed. "And they're most likely a member of the Seven Sages! So of course they're evil!"

"But we don't even know if it was the Seven Sages," Hikan pointed out.

"Yeah, for all we know, it could be one of your creepy fans! Y'know, the ones that read Hentai and have all those body pillows of you!" Neptune agreed.

"Oh, honey... I'm not THAT creepy," a voice called out.

I materialized my blade and quickly activated Level One. "Show yourself! I know you're there! There's no use in hiding!"

"Oh, you like it fast, don't you, boy?" The voice called out.

"I don't have time for this," I materialized several knives and shot them into the darkness.

*Crack!* *Shk!* *Chk!* *Clang!*

"Ah! That one almost hit me!" The voice continued speaking. "However, almost isn't it..."

I smirked wryly. "Are you sure?"

*BOOM!*

"Ah!"

*Thud!*

I detonated the energy knives and they blew up in the darkness, causing a robot to fall out of the shadows and into the light. Noire stared at the robot in disbelief. "You're the hacker?"

"Ah, geez," the robot dusted off it's body. "You don't need to rush things. I'll come when I'm ready..."

"U-Um..."

The robot had a black and green visor, it had a pair of purple antennas at the side of it's head and connected to it's body with a black connector.

The main body had a primary color of pink and a secondary of purple, the limbs were connected by the black connectors and there were purple plates near the connectors to protect them.

It's arms had a pair of pink and purple shoulders plates that connected it's the pink arms. It's arms were both held together by connectors and were plated with pink plating and purple wrist plates.

Connecting to it's main body was it's purple, plated pelvis. Following that were it's legs. It's legs were also held together by connectors and were also plated pink and purple, while the robot's feet were a silver and neon green color.

This robot, although it had a guy's voice, talked like a girl.

"W-Who...are you?" I stared at the strangely designed robot.

"Wow! It's a robot! Oh wait! It's a power suit! Goodness!" Nepgear, however, stared at the robot with sparkling eyes.

"Wow, this guy looks like a Gundam!" Neptune commented.

"Oh?" The robot scanned the six of us and it's eyes landed on Noire. "Oh, there's my Noire! The real deal, in the flesh! You look even better in person!"

"That just sounds creepy! Just tell me why you hacked my servers before I smash your face into the ground!" Noire demanded.

"Such impatience, Noire," the robot tisked. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Seven Sages' wizard, the one who works behind the scenes... I am the master hacker, Anonydeath!"

Anonydeath's textbox appeared, displaying it's name. Anonydeath's was simply just written in a purple color.

"Hey, Noire. Would you be ever so kind and give me a cute nickname like Anny?" Anonydeath asked.

"Like hell I'll ever listen to your request!" Noire shouted. "Just tell me why you're doing this!"

"Because, Noire... I love you..." Anonydeath confessed.

"Wow, that's pretty bold of it to say," I commented.

"I don't know how that would work..." Hikan said.

"Well, it was a cool looking robot, but it's personality is just too weird," Nepgear claimed.

"Woooow...! A real confession...!" Plutia blushed and smiled widely at Noire.

"Wow, this certainly is a strange dimension," Neptune stated. "Not only does Noire have a friend here, but she also has a boyfriend..."

"He's not even my friend! And, it's not even a 'he!'" Noire claimed

"That's right, honey," Anonydeath giggled. "I'm whatever you want me to be..."

"But you sound like a boy, buuut you talk like a girl..." Plutia stated.

"Don't sweat the small things, dear," Anonydeath turned back to Noire. "I'm just happy I finally get to see you."

"Maybe it is a 'he,'" I muttered.

"What do you even know about me!?" Noire demanded.

"Oh, I know EVERYTHING, my dear," Anonydeath giggled. "Looking through all those cameras, seeing you try your best to do your work, always making those cosplay outfits, trying them on as you checked yourself out in the mirror... And it's ALL on video!"

"AHHH! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" Noire demanded as her face flushed a deep shade of red.

"Wow, do you really do all that, Noire?" Hikan asked.

"No, I don't! He's lying!" Noire claimed.

"I never realized that Noire was that strange," Nepgear stated.

"Nepgear, try to stay away from these types of people! They're bad influences for you," Neptune advised her sister.

"HEY! SHUT UP!" Noire demanded.

"Oh! I just love that expression! Show me more of it, Noire!" Anonydeath requested.

"AHHHH!"

"Heeey...you're not allowed to tease Noire...!" Plutia said.

"Oh, but dearie, we could tease her together," Anonydeath suggested. "Wouldn't you like that, to tease Noire?"

"No, it's not that I don't liiike the idea..." Plutia's expression twisted into anger.

"Uh-oh..." Hikan gulped.

*Ching!*

"Oh no! She's here again!" Nepgear took cover behind me.

Plutia turned into her HDD form. "These people are all MY pets and mine to play with alone! Neppy, Noire, Neppy Jr. and those boys are all MINE to tease!"

Anonydeath let out a sigh. "I see... I was hoping that I wouldn't have to fight you all, but I guess it can't be helped. Just try to be a bit gentle, would you?"

*Ching!*

"Yeah right! I'll make sure I destroy you and those cameras of yours!" Noire said as she finished her HDD transformation.

"Nepgear, let's transform and join the battle," Neptune suggested.

Nepgear nodded. "Right!"

*Ching!* *Ching!*

The two of them transformed into their HDD forms. "Let's join the battle!" Neptune said.

I turned to Hikan. "Hey, transform man."

"But...Plutia transformed..." Hikan muttered.

"Dude, if Nepgear can do it, then so can you," I claimed. "I don't know what she did to you but, if Nepgear is fine with fighting alongside Plutia, so should you. So suck it up and transform!"

"F-Fine..." Hikan sighed.

*Ching!*

As Hikan's transformation completed, I activated my body to sixty percent. "Let's do this!"

Anonydeath sighed as six long daggers appeared behind him. "Well, I'm not really a fan of fighting," Anonydeath turned to me. "I do have a score to settle with you though."

We all materialized our weapons. "Me?! What did I do?"

"You had the pleasure of spending that night with Noire, sharing the same bed," Anonydeath let out a moan. "I could only dream of that."

"Oh yeah, that," I stared at him with a puzzled expression. "So, you're mad at me because I spent the night with the girl you love, right?"

"Of course," Anonydeath pointed the daggers towards us.

"Noire, did you really do 'that' with Silver?" Neptune asked.

Noire blushed a bit. "N-No! H-he's just making up stories!"

Nepgear turned to me. "S-Silver? What did you do?"

"We watched a movie and I slept on the couch in her room," I lied. "It was just two friends spending a night together. Promise."

"O-Okay," Nepgear nodded and the doubts left her eyes. "I'll believe you."

"Thanks. Now, let's get this over with," I took a stance. "Yah!"

*Bang!* *Clang!* *Kshhhh!*

I quickly dashed towards Anonydeath and slashed horizontally at him, only to make contact with two of his daggers. "Oh boy, such a bad boy. Don't you know the rule is ladys first?" Anonydeath got in my face. "Then again, you don't seem that smart..."

"Fuck you!" I spat in his visor.

"Shame on you... Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" Anonydeath asked.

I gritted my teeth. "MY MOTHER IS FUCKING DEAD YOU BITCH!"

*Clang! *Snap!*

I felt the surge of power rise in my body and pressed my blade even harder against his daggers, snapping them both. Anonydeath stumbled back at the force and I stepped towards him as two more daggers readied themselves to block my strikes. As I neared the blades, I slowed down time and quickly slid behind him.

*Clang!* *Cling!*

As my ten second timeframe ended and time resumed, two other daggers blocked my oncoming strike. I jumped back as the blades retracted, only to see Noire and Hikan come in from behind.

"Tah!"

"Die!"

*Clang! Clang!*

"Noire, could you do me a favor by stop trying to kill me and go back to the normal Noire? You looked so much cuter," Anonydeath said as his daggers blocked Noire and Hikan's attack.

"Never!" Noire barked.

"Oh, don't be such a party pooper Noire," Anonydeath advised.

"Hah!"

"Yah!"

*Ping!* *Ping!*

While Anonydeath and his blades were busy fending off Hikan and Noire, Neptune rushed at Anonydeath from behind while Nepgear shot a beam of energy from her blade. As Neptune slashed down at Anonydeath's back, a energy shield appeared behind him, repelling Neptune and Nepgear's attack.

Anonydeath turned to them. "Did you really think I wouldn't think about this? I've been studying all of you, just not as much as Noire."

"Are you sure about that?" Neptune asked, forming a grin.

"Positive."

*Vp!* *Kch!* *Vrp!*

While Anonydeath was distracted by Neptune, Plutia shot her whip towards Anonydeath's feet, coiling around his feet. As it caught Anonydeath off guard, Plutia yanked on her whip and pulled Anonydeath towards her. "I'll make you kneel at my feet!"

*Bang!* *Fwsh! Fwsh! Fwsh!*

As Anonydeath skidded up to Plutia's feet, she stomped her feet down, only to have all the daggers block her stomp. However, she pressed her leg against the daggers and pressed them closer to Anonydeath. While that was going on, I materialized six throwing knives and tossed them towards Anonydeath, one after another.

*Boom! Boom! Boom!* *Crack!* *Boom!* *Psh!*

Anonydeath's shield appeared and blocked the oncoming knives, blowing up as they made contact with the shield. However, after enough explosions, the shield shattered and sent Anonydeath flying into the air, leaving him wide open.

"Yah!"

"Die!"

"Rah!"

"Hah!"

*Vrp!* *Clink!* *Ksh! Slash! Shwing!* *Bang!* *Ping!* *Fwshhh!* *Shk!* *Shwing!* *Clang!* *Thud!*

Before Anonydeath could react, the CPUs rushed towards Anonydeath. As the daggers began to zoom in to block the CPUs' attacks, Plutia shot out her whip and wrapped it around all six daggers, rendering them useless.

As the daggers fell to the floor, Neptune sliced away at his back. While Neptune sliced away at Anonydeath, Nepgear shot beams of energy at his limbs and Hikan shot bursts of fire, burning Anonydeath's body. Finally, after the other's attacks had subsided, Noire came up to Anonydeath and began chopping away at his entire body. Once his plates began to fall off, I dashed towards him and kicked him towards a wall, ricocheting him onto the floor.

"O-Okay! I give up!" Anonydeath put his hands in front of him as we closed in on him. "I told you I wasn't someone who liked fighting..."

"Let's kill him already," Noire demanded. "I don't want this guy to keep those videos of me."

"Alright, strike me down," Anonydeath stood up and offered us an attack. "You'll get your wish granted, but those videos will be leaked to all of Gamindustri."

"Alright, I'll watch those once I finish you off," Plutia cracked her whip and kicked Anonydeath to the floor. "Have fun in hell!"

"Wait! Stop, Plutia!" Noire called out.

Plutia turned back to Noire. "What is it? Didn't you want this guy to die?"

Noire turned to Anonydeath. "Did you say that those videos would get leaked if you died?!"

"Why of course," Anonydeath admitted. "I have it programmed to where those videos will be leaked the second I die."

"A-All...of them..." Noire fell to the ground.

"But, I get you have to strike me down, so..." Anonydeath turned to Plutia. "Just get it over wit—"

"Just go!" Noire commanded.

"Huh?" Anonydeath turned back to Noire. "What did you say?"

"JUST GO!" Noire demanded. "GO BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND!"

"Oh! Noire, my affection for you has grown even more! For this, I'll fix your servers," Anonydeath screeched with joy as he flew up into the air. "Oh, I forgot to mention something. Noire, that was a lie. Those videos wouldn't have leaked if I had died. Those videos are for my eyes only!"

"You what!?" Noire glared at Anonydeath as he flew away. "Hey! Get back here!"

I sighed. "Relax. At least we drove him out and got rid of the hacking issue."

"Uggh!"

*Ching!*

The girls and Hikan reverted back to their normal forms as Noire fell to the ground. "Next time, I'll rip that robot to shreds!"

I sighed and turned to Neptune. "I guess we're done here. Let's get to Lowee now."

"Alrighty!" Neptune agreed.

As the five of us left, Noire remained on the floor, sulking...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here's another chapter for you all! Now, we move onto Lowee, though I don't have much to say this time. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	96. Chapter 96

Chapter 96

Upon arriving in Lowee, I noticed that some buildings were tipped over with slight damage and the Basilicom, although it was damaged, also only had minor damages.

Entering Blanc's main room, Plutia ran up to Blanc. "Blanny! We're here to heeelp...!"

"Hm?" Blanc turned to us. "Oh, hey guys."

"What's the issue with your nation?" Hikan asked as he observed the repairs being made to the Basilicom by the guards. "The Basilicom is a bit damaged and there are a few buildings tipped over, but you don't seem that worried about it."

Blanc shrugged. "That's because the problem has already been resolved."

"Really!?" Neptune stared at Blanc with amazement. "Wow! I can't believe you solved it so fast!"

"Blanny is reeeally cool...!" Plutia complimented as she beamed Blanc a bright smile.

"Well, thanks. But that's not it," Blanc said as she scratched the back of her head. "I didn't even solve the problem."

I cocked my head. "If you didn't solve the problem, then who did?"

"Well, by the time I got here, the problem was already solved," Blanc explained.

"I'm not following the words you're putting down, Blanc," Neptune admitted. "Could you explain it in a way that I can understand?"

Blanc nodded. "Okay..."

* * *

 **Several hours ago...**

 _*Bang!* *Crash!* *Boom!*_

 _"BWAHAHA!" Copypaste bashed his head into another building, sending it tipping over. "THIS IS SO WONDERFUL! THE JOY OF DESTRUCTION IS SO GREAT!"_

 _*Crash!* *Boom!*_

 _As another building fell, Copypaste let out another laugh. "THIS FEELS SO GREAT! I'M GLAD I HAVE THE HONOR OF DESTROYING THESE BUILDINGS!"_

 _"Hey! Stop!" A nearby guard demanded. "I'm scared to think of what will happen when Blanc gets angry this time..."_

 _"THERE'S NOTHING TO BE AFRAID OF! IF SHE GETS MAD, THEN SHE MUST CARE ABOUT YOU ENOUGH TO RELY ON YOU! Copypaste boomed._

 _"You're so strange," the guard muttered. "If you want to destroy so badly, then just go break rocks at the quarry!"_

 _"WHAT DID YOU SAY!?" Copypaste roared._

 _"Eek! I'm sorry!" The guard apologized as he shielded his face._

 _"TELL ME WHERE SUCH A HEAVEN EXISTS! I MUST GO THERE AND DESTROY TO MY HEART'S CONTENT!" Copypaste demanded._

 _"U-Um, sure..." The guard gulped and ushered for Copypaste to following him. "L-Let's go..."_

* * *

 **Silver's POV**

"That's pretty interesting..." I said as I scratched my head.

"So, you're telling me Copypaste just went to the mines and started destroying the rocks there?" Hikan asked.

Blanc nodded. "There are guards over there watching him. But nothing bad seems to be happening, and we're mining at a rapid rate."

"Then I guess we're not needed here after all," Nepgear stated. "I guess we'll head back to Planeptune now. Sorry for bothering you, Blanc."

"Wait!" As we were about to leave, Blanc called after us, and we turned back to face her.

"What's up, Blanc?" Neptune asked. "Did you want Hikan to stay?"

Blanc's cheeks grew a sight shade of shade at Neptune's question. "Hell no! That's not it!"

"Then what is it, Blanny...?" Plutia asked.

"Well, I'm going to head down to the quarry and get revenge on that robot for destroying my Basilicom," Blanc snarled. "And, if you guys wouldn't mind, I would like for you all to come help me crush him!"

I sighed. "I don't mind. But I liked the guy. Sure, he was bad at times, but he was also pretty cool."

Hikan nodded. "Yeah, I'd feel pretty bad for crushing him."

"I don't care!" Blanc shouted. "I'm going!"

Neptune sighed. "I guess we should go. Mini-Histy would get pretty Mini-Pisty if we came back, and she found out we didn't help everyone."

I nodded. "You're right. Alright, we'll go."

Blanc nodded. "Thank you. Now, let's go."

The six of us ran out of the Basilicom and towards Lowee's mine.

* * *

"Sooo...tired..." Plutia whined as she crawled along the pathway. "Heeey! Can we take another break...?"

"No! We need to hurry and kill this guy! He destroyed my Basilicom!" Blanc stated.

"It's fine to take a break," I said. "He may have damaged your Basilicom and some buildings, but he's helping your mining right now. Plus, it won't help if we're tired before the fight. So, let's just relax and take a break."

Blanc puffed out her cheeks. "Fine. But only for a bit."

"Finally!" Neptune collapsed onto the ground as she finally caught up with us. "F-Food... Need...food..."

I nodded and, moving to the side of the pathway, unpacked the boxes of onigiri as Nepgear and Hikan caught up with us. "Are we taking a snack break?" Hikan asked.

I nodded and the others joined me at the side of the pathway. "We should have enough for everyone," I picked an onigiri from one of the boxes and took a bite out of it. "So...*chew, chew*…*gulp*...we'll take this time to just relax and eat."

"There sure are a lot of them," Hikan commented as he stared at the four different kinds of onigiris laid out in front of him. "There's no way we'll finish them all."

"Nonsense!" Neptune grabbed two and scarfed them into her mouth. "I can ear tem arl bry myserf!" Neptune spat the words out.

I sighed and wiped away the rice grains on her face. "Finish chewing before you talk, Neptune."

"Shorry," Neptune spat out as she swallowed her food. "Ah! There ya go! Better?"

I nodded. "Much better."

"….It's good," Blanc complimented. She looked up at me. "Did you make this?"

I shook my head and pointed towards Nepgear. "Nepgear made them. I only helped."

"Well, they do taste good," Blanc repeated as she took another bite from her onigiri. "….Has anyone ever told you two that you're like a married couple? Because you two certainly do seem like that."

Hikan put a hand over his mouth to try to hide his laughter.

I sighed. "No, nobody's ever told us that before," I lied as I punched Hikan's shoulder. "Right, Hikan?"

"Yeah, sure," Hikan agreed as he rubbed his shoulder.

"Hey, Silver?" Neptune tugged on my shoulder. "You got anymore?"

"What!?" I looked over at the two boxes that were closest to her. They were both empty. "Did you and Plutia both eat all of those!?"

Neptune shrugged and pointed towards Plutia, who was slowly nibbling away at her onigiri. "Plutie is still on her first one. I ate most of those boxes. Now, do you have anymore?"

I facepalmed. "Hey, Hikan," I muttered.

"Yeah?" He turned his head towards me.

"You were wrong," I admitted.

He cocked his head. "About what?"

"About not being able to finish all the onigiri," I reminded him. "Since Neptune is here, most of the onigiri are gone now.

"Oh well," Blanc took the last onigiri. "At least we finished all four boxes."

I sighed and looked up towards the sky. "I guess..."

"Hey," Neptune tugged on my sleeve. "You got any desserts?"

I nodded. "I still have some of that pudding you got at the hotel," I said as I pulled out the box containing the cups of pudding.

"Thanks!" Neptune snatched the box from me and took out a pudding cup. "Bottoms u—Ow!"

Before Neptune could take a bite from her pudding, I flicked her forehead and she recoiled. "Hey! What was that for!? Don't you know it's against the law to hit cute girls!?" Neptune questioned.

I sighed. "And don't you know it's not nice to not share?"

"Hehehe... Oops, sorry," Neptune apologized as she scratched her head.

I patted her head. "It's alright. But you should always look after your friends. You should always try putting your loved ones needs before your own."

"I guess..." Neptune murmured as she ate her pudding.

"I guess it doesn't make too much sense for you," I turned to Hikan. "But you'd understand, wouldn't you?"

Hikan smiled and nodded. "Of course."

"Bleh! This is why I don't like boys..." Neptune stuck out her tongue towards Hikan and I.

I formed a wide grin. "Really? Then you don't like Tolise?"

"Maybe we should tell him," Hikan teased.

"N-No! Don't do it or I'll smack you with my sword again!" Neptune grew a blush. "Stop teasing me! The girl is the one that's supposed to tease the guys!"

"So, what's your answer, Neptune?" I asked. "Do you like boys or not?"

Neptune puffed out her cheeks. "Fine! I don't hate guys! There, happy!?"

Hikan and I nodded. "Of course."

"Wow," Nepgear stared at her sister with shock. "I don't think I've ever seen Neptune blush like that before..."

I let out a chuckle. "The world sure is full of surprises..."

Blanc got back to her feet. "That's great and all, but it's time we get back to moving."

I nodded. "Alright, let's continue our journey."

* * *

"So, just out of curiosity, was this giant tunnel here before?" I asked as we arrived at the mine's entrance.

"That tunnel was never there before," Blanc stated. "It must've been that robot."

"Really? What gives you that idea?" Hikan asked in a joking tone.

Blanc cast Hikan a nasty glare. "If you keep talking, I'll smash your face into the ground..."

"It was just a joke," Hikan reassured her.

"Wooow! It's sooo big...!" Plutia stuck her head into the tunnel. "Ahhhh! It's sooo dark...!"

Neptune pulled Plutia away from the tunnel. "Maybe Batman lives there!" Neptune suggested.

I shook my head. "No, because the Batcave is underneath Bruce Wayne's mansion."

"It doesn't matter. We're following this tunnel," Blanc ordered.

"But it's soooo dark...!" Plutia whined.

"That's not a problem," I cast several balls of energy to illuminate the tunnel. "See? Now it's not dark and scary."

"Yaaay...!" Plutia clapped her hands.

"Alright, let's go," Blanc commanded as she stepped into the tunnel and began walking.

"I don't see why she's so focused on killing this robot," Hikan wondered. "He has no bad intentions. He just likes to destroy."

"Yeah, but maybe Blanc sees this robot the same way Noire sees that creepy hacker robot," Neptune suggested.

I shrugged. "That could be it."

"Buuut Mister Robot didn't do anything bad, riiight...?" Plutia asked.

I nodded. "Not really. He hasn't been thrown out of the mines either. So that probably means he's being pretty good."

Hikan let out a groan. "You're making it harder for me to kill him," Hikan sighed and started walking down the tunnel. "I'm gonna go before any of you make it even harder for me to kill him."

"Hey! I don't want to end up in last place!" Neptune raced after Hikan. "Get back here!"

"Wait up, Neptune!" Nepgear called after her sister as she chased after her.

"…" That left Plutia and I alone together. It didn't exactly help that the last time we had an actual talk was in Hikan's room, talking about "that".

"Guess it's better late than never," I muttered under my breath and turned to Plutia. "C'mon, let's go." I nudged her shoulder.

"O-Okay..." Plutia said quietly.

But as I began my walk, she didn't follow. I ran back up to her. "What's wrong?"

"U-Um... I-It's scarrry..." Plutia mutered.

I cocked my head. "But the tunnel's lit up, and it's not dark anymore. What's there to be scared of?"

Plutia blushed a bit and played with her fingers. "U-Ummm... C-Can you...hold...my hand...?" Plutia asked in a hushed tone.

I felt a bit of heat enter of cheeks. Maybe she's afraid of the dark. "U-Um...Sure," I offered my hand to her. "Here."

Plutia stared at me with a shocked expression and looked at my hand. "S-Silvy..."

I smiled. It was good to have her actually talk to me again, but it was even better that she was calling me by my nickname again. Even though I didn't want Nepgear to see me holding hands with Plutia, if this was going to make Plutia feel comfortable, then I would get over it. "C'mon. Take my hand and we'll walk and talk."

Plutia beamed me a bright smile, one that I hadn't seen in a while. "Okay!" Plutia, instead of just taking my hand, glomped my whole arm and rubbed her cheek against it. "Ehehehe..."

I sighed. "I guess it can't be helped," I began my walk down the tunnel as Plutia stuck herself to my arm.

Hopefully, I can make up with her and, at the same time, not give people the wrong idea...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Chapter done! There isn't much to say this time. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	97. Chapter 97

Chapter 97

Plutia and I walked down the large tunnel as she clung to my arm. I looked over at her. She seemed happy, but I couldn't be sure. Plutia seemed happy that I let her cling to my arm, but that was it. I still had to make up with her.

"Better late than never..." I muttered. I nudged at her. "Hey, Plutia?"

"Hm?" She turned her eyes up to mine.

"When we talked last time, what were you going to say?" I asked.

"Ummm..." Plutia's cheeks turned red and she turned away from me.

I looked over at her. "What's wrong?"

"…" Instead of answering my question, Plutia stopped walking and I turned back to face her.

"What's wrong, Plutia?" I walked a bit closer to her to examine her face. "Plutia?"

*Ching!*

"H-Hey!" I jumped back as she suddenly transformed. If I was alone with Plutia in her HDD form, then there was a possiblity that I wouldn't live to see another day. "Plutia! Why'd you transform?!"

"Oh? What's wrong with me in this form?" Plutia began to slowly creep towards me. "I kinda like it this way..."

"Why'd you transform though? There was no reason to!" I continued.

Plutia frowned. "That's where you're wrong, Silvy," Plutia got up in my face as I hit a wall. "It's easier for me to 'speak my mind' in this form."

"'Speak your mind?'" I stared at her blankly.

Plutia nodded and got even closer to me. I looked up at her face and noticed something that I had never seen her do much in her HDD form. She was blushing. Usually, she'd blush from the pleasure of torturing her opponents, but this was a different type of blush.

"Silvy, what do you think of Neppy Jr.?" Plutia asked in a tone that was way too kind.

"U-Um... I—"

Plutia clamped my lips with her hand, preventing me from speaking. "Just a little reminder. If you don't speak honestly, then you might not like what happens afterwards..."

I nodded and she let go of my lips. Now I was scared to say anything at all. "Um... I like Nepgear. She's my girlfriend, and I love her. She can have her downs, but I'm fine with that because I'll help her through them. I want to make sure she's happy..."

"I see..." Plutia muttered the words and seemed to stare through me. "Then tell me something. How do you feel about me?"

"…" I was left staring at her with a confused expression..

"Remember, answer honestly..." Plutia reminded me.

I nodded timidly and gulped. "Well... I think you're a good person at heart, and you care about your friends. You're usually kind, sometimes a bit sadistic and act a lot like Neptune, lazy. Besides that, you're a wonderful person and I do think that you will find someone for you someday..."

"…" This time, instead of muttering something or nodding, Plutia just stared at me.

"P-Plutia?" I cocked my head. I had no idea what she could be thinking about.

"Okay..." Plutia smiled and the white light enveloped her.

*Ching!*

As she returned to her normal, sleepy self, I was left speechless. I looked down at her. "Um, Plutia—"

*Thud*

"Hey!" Before I could say much, Plutia tackled me to the ground and wrapped her arms around me. "Are you okay, Plutia?"

Plutia looked up at me and planted her lips on my cheek. "Thank you..." She said in a hushed tone.

I smiled. "Why are you thanking me? I should be apologizing to you for not answering your feelings sooner."

"Ehehehe... Sorry, I got sooo nervous..." Plutia apologized.

I sighed. "You're such a handful," I patted her head. "But I don't mind."

I rose back to my feet and pulled Plutia along with me. "Now, let's hurry back to the others. They might get suspicious if we're alone for long enough."

Plutia nodded and stuck herself to my arm again. "Okaaay..."

* * *

"Neppppy...!" As Plutia and I approached the end of the tunnel, we found Neptune and the others.

Neptune spun around to see the two of us. "Plutie!" The two Planeptune CPUs ran towards each other and hugged. "Are you okay, Plutie? Did Silver do anything nasty to you?"

"WHAT!?" I stood there with my jaw open. "I didn't do anythin—"

"Uh-huuuh! He did yucky things to me...!" Plutia lied.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" I stared at Plutia with confusion.

Nepgear looked over at me. "S-Silver... You said you wouldn't..."

"Because I didn't!" I protested. "I swear!"

Hikan shrugged. "I don't know... You two did take quite a bit of time to catch up. Plus, you two were alone together..."

I turned to Hikan. "I thought you were on my side! What happened to 'Bros before hoes?!'"

"I was never one to follow the Bro Code," Hikan stated. "Sorry."

I crumpled to my knees. "I was accused of sexual harassment...and I didn't even do anything... Just...kill me..." I sunk my head into the ground.

Blanc sighed. "I thought you were better than this..."

"Let's just leave the pedophile," Neptune suggested.

"Neppy... It was just a joooke..." Plutia explained.

"Really!? The ever-so-slow Plutia told a funny joke!?" Neptune gasped.

"So, Silver didn't do anything bad to you?" Nepgear asked.

"Nooope...!" Plutia announced.

I picked my head up and looked over at Plutia. "I thought you were better than this..."

"Ehehehe..." Plutia scratched the back of her head. "Sorrrry..."

Hikan offered me his hand. "Sorry..."

"You better be," I muttered as he pulled me back to my feet. I turned to Blanc. "So, do you know how much more we have to walk before we reach Copypaste?"

Blanc shrugged and pointed down the path leading down. "We just have to follow this path until we find him."

I nodded. "Alright, then let's go."

* * *

"Oh, Sir Copy! You're such a jokester!" A miner let out a laugh.

"He's such a great guy too!" A guard stated.

"Yeah! Just leave the Seven Sages and work for Lady Blanc! I'm sure she would forgive you if you worked hard enough!" Another miner suggested.

"Oh! You all are being too kind!" Copypaste sighed. "But I can't! The Seven Sages and I have been long time pals! I can't leave them!"

"But they're no good for you! Don't you know that?" The first miner asked.

"I do! But, I can't just abandoned my comrades! We may not have always gotten along, but we have something special!" Copypaste boomed.

I turned to Blanc. "So, how does this make you feel about the destroyer of your Basilicom?"

"I don't care how well he's getting along with my workers! I'll crush him!" Blanc tightened her fist.

"Oh! CPUs! You've made it!" Copypaste stated happily. "Welcome!"

"Enough of your nonsense! I'm going to make you pay for destroying my Basilicom!" Blanc shouted.

*Ching!*

Blanc activated HDD and materialized her axe. "It's time to end your life!" She turned towards us. "Hey! Transform or whatever it is that you do!"

"B-But he hasn't done anything wrong!" Nepgear said. "By doing this, it just makes us look like the bad guys."

"JUST TRANSFORM DAMNIT!" Blanc demanded.

"R-Right!"

*Ching!*

Hikan and the girls quickly went HDD and materialized their weapons. I shrugged and activated my body to act at fifty percent. "I don't really want to fight this guy. He's pretty cool," I said.

Hikan nodded. "Yeah, there's really no reason to fight him. He hasn't done anything wrong."

Neptune sighed and looked over at Blanc. "They're right. This is just making us out to be the bad guys."

Plutia shrugged. "I don't really mind. I've never really been too much of a good girl anyways..."

"We're ending this thing and that's it! End of story!" Blanc shouted.

"Wait, Lady Blanc!" The two miners and the guard stepped in between us and Copypaste. "Don't kill him! Sir Copy is a real good guy!"

"I was never called 'sir,'" Hikan muttered.

"Move your asses over unless you want to lose your jobs!" Blanc barked.

"B-But, Lady Blanc—"

"It's fine, friends," Copypaste reassured them. "This is my duty anyways. I have to do this..."

"B-But, Sir Copy!"

Copypaste sighed. "Dear friends, root for me!" Copypaste turned towards us. "Alright! Come at me with everything you've got!"

"Finally!" Blanc formed a wide grin.

*Bang!*

Before any of us could do anything, Blanc sped towards Copypaste, ready to swing her axe, even though the Loweeans still stood between her and Copypaste. "I warned you!"

"Eek!"

"Shit!" I turned to Hikan. "Let's go!"

*Bang!*

Hikan and I sped towards the Loweeans and pulled them out of the way just before Blanc reached them.

"DIE!"

*Clang!* *Bang! Bang!* *Crack!* *Boom!* *Vrnnnnn!*

Blanc brought her axe down on Copypaste, only for him to block the strike with his hands and sink into the ground. As Blanc pulled back, Copypaste's arms turned into energy cannons and he shot two blasts towards Blanc. Quickly, Blanc batted the first blast away and cut through the other, releasing debris. Before the debris could settle, Copypaste fired a laser from his mouth towards Blanc.

*Clang!* *Crash!* *Fsh! Fsh! Fsh! Fsh!*

Hikan sped up to the laser and reflected it away, hitting some nearby rubble. The debris settled and Hikan charged with Blanc towards Copypaste. As the two of them neared him, his chest opened, revealing two, large missile launchers, firing multiple missiles. Copypaste shot out the barrage of missiles towards Blanc and Hikan.

*Clang! Clang!* *Vrrrn!* *Fsh! Fsh! Fsh!*

While Hikan hopped from missile to missile, Blanc batted them away as she rushed towards Copypaste. As he brought up his laser, Neptune and Nepgear came from behind Copypaste and slashed at his head. But before the blades could make contact with his body, Copypaste rotated his head in a three sixty degree turn and shot his laser towards Neptune and Nepgear. The two CPUs both dodged to the side, missing the laser by hairs, and were instantly barraged by a volley of missiles.

*Shwing!* Shk!* *Clang!* *Bang!*

I quickly slowed down time, created a barrier around the Loweeans and jumped towards the missile barrage. As I reached the missiles, I began slicing away at them all before grabbing Neptune and Nepgear and getting them away from the explosions. As I got them to cover, time resumed.

*Boom! Boom! Boom!* *Bang! Bang!*

As the missiles blew up, Blanc and Hikan came down on Copypaste once again, only to be repelled by an energy shield. As Hikan was bounced back, he materialized a throwing knife, engulfed in flames, and threw it towards Copypaste.

*Clink!* *Vrrrp!* *Crash!* *Vrrrrr!* *Clang!* *Crash!* *Boof!*

Once Copypaste knocked the knife away, Plutia launched her whip towards Copypaste, wrapping it around his neck, and pulled him to the ground. Taking advantage of his vulnerability, I materialized a rope similar to wire rope and commanded it to bind Copypaste. The rope quickly zoomed towards Copypaste, coiled around him and tightened, binding Copypaste. Blanc then zoomed in and slammed her axe against his head, causing the head to blow up in a puff of smoke and shatter into millions of parts.

"That does it! Serves you right!" Blanc chucked her axe away and reverted back to her normal form.

*Ching!*

As Blanc returned to normal, so did the others. I switched my body back to it's normal percentage and materialized a trumpet. I then began to play "Wind Beneath My Wings" as the Loweeans took off their hats off and bowed their heads over Copypaste's death.

"Hey! Cut that out!" Blanc smacked the trumpet out of my grip and I stopped playing midsong.

"Blanc, why'd you do that?!" I yelled.

Blanc pointed towards the Loweeans, who were now glaring angrily at us. "Let's just get out of here!"

"This is YOUR fault!" I accused.

"I don't care!" Blanc shouted back.

I let out a groan. "Fiiiine..." I turned to the others. "Let's go..."

"Hey! Get back here!"

As the six of us jogged away, the Loweeans chased after us...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here's another chapter! This basically solves the whole Plutia and Silver situation. Any interaction between them afterwards will just be something I put in the chapter. There won't actually be another part to the Plutia and Silver situation. Maybe... Also, the next two chapters are going to be cramming the rest of the event in because I want to make Chapter 100 special. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	98. Chapter 98

Chapter 98

"Alright!" Neptune kicked the door open, and everyone followed behind her. "We've solved all the nations' problems. So, we can relax and party or whatever!"

After we had escaped the Loweeans, Blanc decided to come back to Planeptune with us. Somehow, Noire and Vert managed to tagged along too.

I sighed. "You know, you should really stop kicking doors open, Neptune," I advised. "I'm surprised Histoire never got onto you for that."

"Actually, she has," Nepgear pointed out as we entered the living room. "But Neptune never listened to her because..."

"Because Neppy is Neppy...!" Plutia finished.

"Yeah, that's usually how it goes," Hikan nodded. "Sometimes, if Neptune got Histy mad enough, Histy would kick Neptune out of the Basilicom for about an hour. Then Nepgear and I would be forced to do her work."

"When did this happen?" I asked.

"A bit before the Deity of Sin showed up," Nepgear answered.

"By the way," Neptune turned to Vert, Blanc and Noire. "Why do you all have to come here everytime to hang out?"

"What? Is there something wrong with that?" Noire asked. "I just came here because I solved my issue!"

"I came here because I wanted to see my lovely Nepgear," Vert pulled Nepgear in close and squeezed.

"V-Vert...I-I...can't...breathe..." Nepgear coughed the words out as she tried to escape Vert's vice grip.

"I came here just because," Blanc shrugged. "I like it here. Plus, Plutia's here."

"Aww... Blanc, you could've said something more random! Something like, 'I came here to kill Noire!'" Neptune suggested.

"What!? Why me!?" Noire glared at Neptune.

"Because you're the lonely one that nobody will care about if you get killed!" Neptune claimed. "Basically, you're like that side character in horror movies that always gets killed first!"

"H-Hey! That's not true!" Noire protested.

"No, she's probably right," Blanc agreed with Neptune. "You could be side character material."

Noire spun her head towards Blanc. "Really!? How so!? How can I be such a bad character!?"

Blanc let out a chuckle. "Well, for starters, you claimed to be the best nation before getting hacked, and you let your hacker escape. Pretty lousy if you ask me."

"You shut up!" Noire demanded. "What makes you so much better!?"

Blanc smirked. "Well, I destroyed my enemy, unlike you."

"Yes, but you also made your workers hate you because of that," Hikan pointed out as he plopped down on the couch. "Honestly, that makes Noire look better."

I frowned. "True, but Noire made everything digital and was almost dethroned. Honestly, they both did pretty poorly..."

Blanc and Noire cast me deadly glares. "What the hell did you just say!?"

"Um... I said that Leanbox's food tasted really poorly!" I lied.

Neptune shivered at my words. "Don't remind me..."

"What's wrong with my nation's food?" Vert asked. "I quite enjoy it."

I scratched my chin. "How do I put this..." I turned to Vert. "You know what a hamburger taste like, right?"

Vert nodded. "Yes, but why are you asking that?"

"Think of that, but add ten layers to that and compress it into one burger. That's basically what a Big Wac is, obesity in a single burger," I explained. "Neptune couldn't even handle one."

"Really!? But her stomach is like a black hole!" Noire claimed.

"Heeey..." Plutia raised her voice. "We forgot to say that we're back...!"

"Oh yeah," Neptune scratched her head. "Guess we were getting too into the talking!"

"Histoire! We're home!" Nepgear shouted.

"Urgh!" Neptune let out a groan before peeking her eyes open. "Huh?"

"Neppy... Why'd you make such a fuuunny sound...? Do you have a tummy ache...?" Plutia asked.

"Maybe the Big Wac is coming back for another round," Hikan suggested.

"No, that's not it," Neptune looked around the room. "It's just that I'm so used to coming home and having P-Ko punch me in the gut or something."

I looked around the room. "Now that you mention it, I don't see Mini-Histoire anywhere either. It seems quite, too quite..."

"Wait!" Blanc put her finger to her lip. "Everyone, pipe down for a second..."

"…"

We held our breaths and listened.

"MMGH! MMF! ( ꒪Д꒪)ノ"

"Those emoticons!" Neptune gasped. "That's Mini-Histy!"

"But where's it coming from?" Plutia looked around. "Heey...! Look...! The trash bin is shaking...!"

"Hm?" We all turned our attention towards the trash bin, and, sure enough, it was shaking. "Is Mini-Histoire in there?"

"Only one way to find out," Hikan walked over and took off the lid. "Hey! This is Mini-Histy's tome!"

"What!? Really!?" I ran up to the trash bin and pulled out the crumpled book. "You're right. But why's it crumpled up and duct taped?"

"MMGH! MMF! ＼(o_o);ノ"

"Hey! Hurry up and let her out!" Noire commanded.

"Right," I ripped the strips of duct tape off and pulled the book open, causing Mini-Histoire to fall to the ground. "Hey, are you alright!?" I picked her up and placed her on my head.

"T-The children! Oh, what am I going to do?! (((( ;°Д°))))" Mini-Histoire hopped back onto her tome as Hikan finished flattening it and began flying around in circles.

"Hey! What's wrong, Mini-Histy?" Neptune asked. "And what happened to the kids?!"

"Right before you all got back here, the Seven Sages came in and took the kids! 《ﾟДﾟ》" Mini-Histoire explained. "Then they crumpled up my tome and threw me in the garbage!"

"Those liars!" Neptune gritted her teeth. "That stupid, baby-girl girl kept accusing us of stealing children when THEY went and stole three kids!"

A shadow cast over Plutia's eyes and a cold aura filled the room. "I'll...make them pay..."

"You just said that they did this right before we got here, right?" Mini-Histoire nodded at my question. "Then there's still time to catch up to them!"

"But we don't even know which direction they went in!" Noire reminded.

"I heard they were heading for Lowee," Mini-Histoire stated.

"But which route did they take to Lowee?" Hikan asked. "There are so many ways to get there!"

"We don't have time to look around for clues. I'll just have to scan for them!" I let the golden color fill my left eye, revealing all the entities around with a red color. Towards the direction of Lowee, there was a mountain range. In that mountain range, there was a group of children with, what seemed to be, a rat and a witch.

I pointed towards the mountain range. "They're up there!"

Hikan nodded. "Let's go!"

The eight of us stormed out of the room and after the children...

* * *

"Blanc, do you think this is the right path?" Hikan asked as we jogged along the pathway.

Blanc shrugged. "Well, this is usually the way to get to Lowee with this path, so, if they didn't come this way, I don't know which way they could have taken."

"It doesn't matter. We'll follow the path for now," Vert stated. "We don't have time to backtrack."

"Yeah, we have to get to them before they get to Lowee," I agreed.

"But why would they be heading for Lowee?" Noire wondered. "There are guards there that'll catch them."

"Maybe they have a secret base there," Neptune suggested. "You don't know! Maybe the old businessman built one in Lowee."

"I'll...make them...suffer..." Plutia's chiling aura grew wider.

"Is it just me, or is Plutia getting a bit angry?" Neptune questioned.

"She's not getting a bit angry, she's getting REALLY angry!" I stated.

Nepgear shivered. "L-Let's hurry before she does anything extreme..."

I nodded. "Yeah, let's pick up the pace."

As we jogged faster, we spotted two figures up ahead. "Hey! Look, it's that rat and Compa!" I materialized my blade and jumped towards Warechu.

"HUH!?" Warechu looked up to see my blade come down.

"Die!" I began to bring my blade down.

"Wait!" Compa stepped in front of the rat before I could strike down. Quickly, I let the blade dematerialize as I landed in front of Compa. "Don't hurt Mister Mouse!" Compa begged.

"Huh? But didn't he just try to kidnap you?" Nepgear asked.

Plutia slowly crept towards Warechu with her aura. "I'll make sure you dooon't leave here alive...for hurting Compa...Mister Rat..."

"EEK!" Warechu shriveled up and backed away.

"No! Plu! Mister Mouse was going to take me back to the Basilicom!" Compa explained.

"H-Huh...?" Plutia's cold aura disappeared and she returned to her normal self. "R-Really? Sooo... Mister Rat didn't do anything bad...?"

"No," Compa shook her head. "Mister Mouse is a good mouse!"

Warechu let out a heavy sigh. "Thank goodness I met this girl. She saved me from that sadistic chick's wrath. She truly is a guardian angel!"

"Hey," I turned to Warechu. "Don't think we've let you off the hook just yet."

"Wait, where's Peashy and IF?" Nepgear asked as she looked around. "I don't see them anywhere."

"Iffy and Pea were taken ahead by some old granny lady," Compa said.

"Some granny lady..." Neptune gasped. "Wait, so it was Arsnore!"

"Oh boy," I sighed. "She never learns, does she?"

"To do something as low as kidnapping kids..." Noire crossed her arms. "That truly is evil."

"…" The chilling aura returned to Plutia and the shadow cast back over her eyes. "I'll make sure...to punish Arsnore...reeeal well..."

Hikan gulped. "Something tells me Arfoire won't like what'll happen to her..."

I nodded. "When it's Plutia, definitely not..."

Vert looked back over at Warechu. "Excuse me, rodent. Which way did the hag go?"

"Hmph!" Warechu crossed his arms and turned his head away from us. "Like I would tell you! I'm not one to sell out my comrades, even if I do hate them!"

"I see..." Vert let out a sigh. "That's quite a shame..."

"Mister Rat~….." Plutia dragged herself up to Warechu and jerked his head to face her's. Plutia smiled innocently. "You'll tell me, wooon't you...?"

"I-I...um...uh..." Warechu stared at Plutia with a petrified look. "U-Um..."

"You'll tell me...riiiight...?" Plutia began to squeeze Warechu's head as Warechu started flailing his limbs.

"U-Urk! I-I-I'll tell! I'll...tell! J-Just...let me...g-go..." Warechu requested as his eyes began to roll back.

"Plutia! Let go!" I dashed up to Warechu and yanked him out of Plutia's grasp. His eyes were bloodshot and his mouth was foaming. "Geez, Plutia..." As I set him on the ground, I put a hand to his chest and pulsed, releasing a bit of energy into him.

"…!" Warechu blinked, wiped the foam from his mouth and got back to his feet. "W-What the!? What did you do!?"

I smiled. "I saved you from death. You're welcome."

"I can't believe I'm alive..." Warechu examined his body. "Thanks, I guess..."

I nodded. "Now, could you tell us where Arfoire went? We're kind of in a rush..."

Warechu nodded. "The grandma went that way," Warechu pointed towards the path ahead of us. "You'll find her eventually."

"Thanks," I got back to my feet and turned to the others. "You heard the rat. Let's keep going!"

"Right!" The others nodded and we continued to jog down the path, taking Compa with us and leaving Warechu behind.

I looked over at Plutia, her face showing pure anger. "Arfoire, you better pray that you make it out of this alive..." I muttered.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here's another chapter. This event will be crammed down into two chapters because I want to dedicate Chapter 100 to being special and not have to interrupt an event just because of it. Also, thank you, _noahhamilton123456789._ I wouldn't mind putting in your idea, however I've never played Dishonored. I could add the easter egg and, if you want me to add in the character, just PM me so I'll know what to write about. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	99. Chapter 99

Chapter 99

"Hey, look!" I pointed towards the two figures ahead, IF and Arfoire. "There's Arfoire!"

"That's great and all but where's Peashy?" Hikan asked.

"We'll just beat the answers out of her!" I suggested as we skidded to a stop. "Hey, Arfoire!"

"Huh?" Arfoire and IF turned to us.

"Iffy!" Compa called out to her.

"Well, look at that. They did show up after all," Arfoire let out a sigh. "Really, how do I always lose to them? Those two boys, I can understand. But those dumb girls too?"

I materialized my blade. "Let IF go and we'll let you go peacefully," I demanded.

Arforie smirked. "You really think that I would agree to such stupid terms!? You should all know by now that I wouldn't do such a thing!" Arfoire crossed her arms. "How'd you even get here!?"

I let out a chuckle. "The answer might surprise you, but that doesn't concern you. Just hand the kid over."

"Hmph. Even if you do get her back from me, the other two are still—" Arfoire turned her head and noticed Compa. "Wait! How come she's here!?"

"Your little rat friend handed her over quite readily," Vert stated. "Plus, we figured out where you were after "convincing" him."

Arfoire tisked. "Damn that rodent."

"To think that you all would stoop as low as to kidnap children while the adults were away," Blanc shook her head. "That truly is despicable!"

"I agree with you all, really," Arfoire stated. "I wasn't on board with the idea myself. However, orders are orders. So, let's just get this over with..."

Neptune sighed. "I don't know why you keep trying. We keep gaining more party members, and you still think you can take us on. I don't know why you're calling me the dumb one when you can't even figure that out!"

I formed a wide grin. "She's right, y'know."

"That's why I'm going all out today!" Arfoire cracked her knuckles and stepped towards us. "I'm not really a fan of this form though. But, seeing as there are eight of you, I'll have to show you all my final form!"

*HSHHHH!* *KRK!* *CRUNCH!* *HSHHH!*

As a dark cloud of energy engulfed Arfoire and left her in a purple silhouette, her form began to grow larger. The sounds of bones cracking and crunching filled the air as Arfoire's silhouette took a monstrous form. Once the dark energy exited her body, it left Arfoire in her true form.

There wasn't really much to say about Arfoire's true form, besides that it looked absolutely hideous.

The base that connected it all together was a lavender, serpent-like head with a pair of giant, sharp teeth and a pair of two legs coming from the sides of the serpent's head. Connecting to the top of the serpent's head were two things—an upper body structure and the upper body of Arfoire's evil CPU form.

The upper body structure had, mainly, a center containing a crimson eye. To the sides of the eye, there were a pair of lavender shoulder plates that each housed two arms. Connecting from the back of the upper body's structure was a pair of two wings.

The arms and legs were crimson-skinned with lavender plates. However, unlike the legs, the hands were scaled with an orange and violet color. Lastly, the wings' humerus were a violet color, with bone-like spikes jutting from the tops of the humerus bones, and the actual skin part of the wing was a scaly flame orange.

"GRAAAAH!" Arfoire let out a roar.

"…" I took a moment to let it all sink in. "….HAHAHAHA!" I fell to the ground, laughing.

"Hey, Silver, what's wrong?" Noire asked.

"HAHAHAHA!" I felt the tears form at the corners of my eyelids as I continued to laugh. "I-IT'S...IT'S TOO MUCH! HAHAHAHA!"

"Hey, Blanc. Do you know what's wrong with Silver?" Noire asked.

"Maybe he's finally lost it," Blanc suggested. "Or maybe he's just laughing at that ridiculous-looking final form of that hag's."

Noire let out a snicker. "I don't blame him... I-It's...heh...pretty funny."

"Whew..." Just before my side could start hurting, I stopped laughing, rose to my feet and wiped the tears from the corners of my eyelids. "It looks so stupid, that I'm not even scared of it. It just looks plain stupid!"

"Um...Silver?" Hikan called out to me. "Do you not know who that is?"

I shrugged. "Sure I do. It's Arfoire, right?"

"No," Nepgear shook her head. "That's the Deity of Sin's true form."

"….. Seriously?" I let the words sink in. "…... HAHAHAHA!"

"Not again!" Noire groaned.

"Wait, what's so funny about it?" Hikan asked.

"Deity of Sin or not, it still looks pretty ridiculous," Vert stated. "Not in a menacing way either."

"Okay... I'm done..." I quickly got back to my feet before I lost control. "It's just too funny..."

Neptune let out a chuckle. "I'll say! Deity of Sin? More like Deity of Unattractiveness!"

"Neptune! Don't you remember!?" Hikan questioned. "We fought this thing and barely won!"

Neptune waved her hand. "Aww...but that was our dimension! Besides, this Arfoire has been nothing but a big pushover!"

Noire nodded. "For once, Neptune is right."

Hikan sighed. "I guess..."

"Anyways, let's transform!" Neptune commanded.

*Ching!*

As the CPUs went HDD, I activated Level One. "I honestly don't even want to try against this thing," I stated. "I just can't take it seriously."

"It doesn't matter! We'll crush it!" Noire claimed.

Neptune nudged at Compa, who was clinging to her leg. "Go hide somewhere safe. We don't want you to get injured."

"Okay, Nep-nep," Compa scurried behind a large boulder and I cast a energy barrier around her to keep her safe.

"…." I looked over at Plutia, who still had her cold aura, to find that she was only glaring at Arfoire.

"Plutia? What's wrong?" Noire asked. "Transform so that we can beat her up..."

"Hahahaha... I knooow... We're going to make her suffer, riiiight!" Plutia, formed a devilish grin. "Arfoire...I'm going to release alllll of my pent-up anger on you...!"

"U-Um..." The rest of us were taken aback by Plutia's words. I turned to Neptune. "Hey, isn't she only supposed to act like this when she's in her HDD form?"

"Yeah, that's usually supposed to be what happens," Neptune agreed. "Plutia! What's wrong!?"

"I-I...don't know... I think I'm...getting mixed up..." Plutia claimed as her body began to twitch.

I gulped. "This is actually a terrifying sight to witness."

*Ching!*

Plutia transformed and she continued to smile like before. "Don't worry, Arfoire! I'll make sure to punish you severely before killing you!" Plutia materialized her whip blade and cracked it.

"G-Groaah? GRAAAAH!"

We stared at Arfoire in wonder. "Plutia even managed to take aback Arfoire..." Nepgear commented. "That's pretty amazing..."

I nodded. "As long as Plutia is on our side, sure, it's amazing."

"It's fine, right? I can do whatever I'd like to this thing, right?!" Plutia asked as her twitching became even more violent.

"*Sniff*…...Uugh..." IF stared in horror at Plutia.

"Fufufu..." Plutia turned to face IF. "My cute, little Iffy... Don't worry. I'll save you after I take care of this hag..."

*Bang!*

"Hey!"

As we materialized our weapons, Plutia went ahead and lunged towards Arfoire. "I'll rip you to shreds!"

"Hey! Hold o—" Before Hikan could rush after Plutia, I grabbed him by his wrist. "Why are you stopping me!?"

I sighed. "Right now, it's best not to interfere. Plutia will be fine."

Hikan stared at Plutia with concern. "B-But..."

Vert nodded. "Silver's right. Right now, Plutia could handle that thing all by herself, but we'll have to help her eventually. When Plutia's movements begin to slow down, we'll join the fight."

I nodded. "Exactly," I turned my gaze back to Plutia. "For now, we'll just watch..."

*Vrrrrp!* *Crash!* *VRRRN!* *BOOM!* *Boom! Boom! Boom!*

As Plutia reached Arfoire, she quickly coiled her whip blade around Arfoire's legs and pulled. But, before Arfoire could be pulled down, Arfoire planted her feet into the ground and fired an energy beam towards Plutia. Plutia quickly retracted her whip blade and jumped back to avoid the energy beam, only to be met by a barrage of energy blasts.

"HAHAHA! You really think that these things will stop me!?" Plutia formed another grin. "I'll murder you if you're this weak!"

*Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!* *Boom! Boom! Boom!* *Crash!* *Ksh!*

Plutia's speed increased and she began swatting the blasts of energy away. Batting the last one away, Plutia sped towards Arfoire and kicked at her base, sending Arfoire crashing into a nearby boulder. Before Arfoire could get back to her feet, Plutia's blade filled itself with an energy, colored deep pink, and rushed towards Arfoire.

*Shwing!* *Shk!* *Clang!* *Crash!*

By the time Arfoire had gotten back to her feet, Plutia was back in front of her again. Plutia then slashed down with two diagonal slashes, creating a 'V' symbol, and kicked Arfoire back towards the rock, breaking through it.

"Don't tell me that's all you got? What kind of a Deity are you? Why should I worship you when you should be worshipping me!?" Plutia laughed manically.

"It took nine CPUs to beat the Deity of Sin, but Plutia is handling her just fine," Hikan gulped.

I shrugged. "Well, it is a different Arfoire, and it is Plutia."

"That's still very worrying..." Noire stated. "The fact that Plutia can take on a Deity all by herself."

*VRRNNNN!* *KRSH!* *KSH! *KSH!* *VRRRNNN!*

Arfoire quickly sprang out of the rubble and lunged towards Plutia, blasting an energy beam from her eye. Instead of stepping out of the way, Plutia simply smirked and let the beam close in on her. Before it could make contact with her, Plutia swung her blade against the energy beam, colliding with it. As Plutia held the energy at bay, she slowly sunk into the ground with the energy beam. But instead of watching Plutia sink deeper into the ground, Arfoire let out a roar and fired another beam of energy towards Plutia.

"Hey!" Hikan spun to the rest of us. "We have to help her! She can't take that blast!"

I shook my head and put a hand onto his shoulder. "Just wait and see..."

Hikan cocked his head. "Huh?"

"RAAAAH!"

*Bang!* *KRSH!* *KSH!*

As Hikan turned his attention back to the fight, Plutia sent the beam of energy back towards Arfoire, colliding it with the other beam of energy, causing them both to blow up and disperse into tiny particles of energy. Plutia then flew out of the sunken hole and let out a breath.

"Hey," Plutia turned towards us, and we snapped to attention. "Take over and finish this battle."

"Huh?" Nepgear stared at Plutia with a look of confusion. "But you were doing just fine."

"That doesn't matter," Plutia formed a devilish grin. "I want to save the rest of my strength for when I punish her."

Neptune let out a sigh. "It can't be helped. At least this way, we won't be wasting our HDD forms."

I nodded. "Yeah, but if it's seven against one, we'll definitely win."

Noire smirked. "I don't care! I want to get revenge on this thing! It almost stole my CPU Memory from me! I'll crush it!"

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

As Noire finished her statement, she, along with the other CPUs, sped towards Arfoire, leaving me standing alone. I let out a sigh. "I don't even feel like dealing with this crap right now," I activated Level Two and materialized a few throwing knives. "Let's just get this over with..."

*Thud!* *Thump!* *CRASH!* *VRNN!* *Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!*

Noticing us, Arfoire spun her body towards us and charged at us. Before Noire and Vert could thrust their weapons at Arfoire, Arfoire's speed increased and she rammed into them. Arfoire then slammed them into the side of a nearby mountain, jumped back and began firing blasts of energy at them from point-blank range.

*Shk!* *Chk!* *Crash!* *Slam!* *Boom!*

I quickly slowed down time, scooped the two CPUs up and got them away from the range of fire before resuming time. While Arfoire was busy firing away at the mountainside, Neptune and Nepgear came at Arfoire from behind and thrusted their blades into Arfoire's back, causing Arfoire to let out a revolting scream as she bashed herself against the mountain to try to shake off Neptune and Nepgear while purple blood spurted out of her.

"… There!"

*Fsh! Fsh! Fsh!* *Shk! Shk!* *Chk! Chk!* *Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!* *THUD!* *SLAM!* *Crack!*

Waiting for the right moment, I threw all four throwing knives at Arfoire, each hitting a leg. Upon stabbing into her, Arfoire crumpled to the ground and I let the knives blow up, splashing purple blood everywhere and exploding her legs into chunks, leaving her legless. While Arfoire screamed with fury, Blanc brought her axe down on Arfoire and slammed it against her body. Slamming her axe against Arfoire's upper body, the eye became bloodshot and Arfoire began to writhe in pain.

"GROOOAR!"

"There!"

*FWHMP!* *Fsh! Fsh! Fsh!* *Fshhhh!* *Crackle!* *Hshhhhhh!* *CRASH!* *FSHHHH!*

Taking advantage of Arfoire's inability to control herself, Hikan's blade burst to life in a roar of flames and he flew above her. Quickly, he shot out a few bursts of flames around her, creating a ring of fire, before absorbing the flames and letting his blade's flames take the form of a Phoenix. Just as Arfoire recovered from her pain, Hikan brought his blade down on her and the area around them burst into flames, casting a blinding light.

As flames swept towards the CPUs and I, I created an energy barrier around us, and we watched the flames pass us.

Once the fire had passed and the light had faded away, I let the barrier disappear before I started looking around. In the center of the flames was Arfoire, in her normal form and burnt, while, floating right above her, was Hikan, carrying IF. I looked over to where I had left Compa to see that she was still being protected by the barrier.

Hikan dropped back to the ground and let go of IF. IF smiled at us. "Thanks Hikan! That was so cool!"

Hikan let out a chuckle. "It was nothing."

IF then turned to me. "You too, Silver! Those knives were so cool how they blew up! Can you teach me how to do that!?"

"They usually blow up," I shrugged. "And I might teach you one day."

IF then hugged Neptune. "Thanks Nep! You really saved my skin back there!"

Neptune nodded as she wrapped her arms around IF. "It's not a problem. Your safety is of my utmost concern."

I sighed. "Well, I guess that's a wra—"

"Not yet," Plutia spoke up and crept towards Arfoire, dragging her whip blade along with her. "I still need to deliver punishment to this hag..."

"Ugh..." Arfoire looked up and her eyes widened when she saw Plutia in front of her. "N-No! Stay back! You've already won the fight!"

Plutia smiled brightly. "Awww... Didn't I tell you I'd make you suffer? We may have won the fight, but the fun is just getting started!"

*Crack!*

At Plutia's whip crack, Arfoire began to back away, only for Plutia to follow her. "N-No! S-Stay back!"

Plutia smiled brightly. "Let's have some fun, shall we?"

"NOOOOOO!"

*Crack!*

"Uuurgh..." I looked over to my right to see IF staring at Plutia in horror.

*Ching!*

Neptune sighed as she, along with the CPUs besides Plutia, reverted back to her normal form. "I'm pretty safe this isn't safe for the story. It's only rated 'T' for teens and not for mature. So it might not be best to show this content."

I nodded. "Yeah, let's just skip this scene..."

*Elevator music plays*

* * *

Plutia let out a sigh. "I think I've had my fill," she smiled. Plutia then crept over to IF and leaned in close to her. "Aww... Poor Iffy... Look, I'm here. It'll all be better now."

IF, however, didn't look okay. "U-Ughhh...W-Wahhhhhhh!" IF burst out into tears.

"Huh!? Hey, what's wrong?!" Plutia stared at IF with a confused look. "I just saved you from the big, mean lady."

"B-But...you're scary! Waaaah! Waaah!" More tears streamed down IF's face as Plutia inched closer.

Plutia pouted. "Awww... I just want Iffy to say cool things about me like Neppy..."

I sighed. "After what you did, any child would be scared."

Blanc shivered at the thought. "Any child would be scarred after seeing that..."

Neptune sighed. "C'mon, Sadie. Let's head home."

Plutia sighed and reverted back to her normal self. "Awww..."

"Wait!" Hikan suddenly called after us. "Hey, didn't we forget about Peashy?"

"Oh shoot!" Neptune kicked at the ground. "Where's P-Ko!?"

"Hold on," I scanned the area, but found nobody in the mountains. I let out a sigh as I stopped the scan. "She's...not here..."

I turned to Arfoire. "Hey! Where's Peashy!?"

Arfoire looked up at me and stared at me with a blank stare. "Heh? Haha...ha..."

"Oh yeah," I sighed. "Plutia tortured her way too much. She can't even form words."

"We shouldn't try chasing after Peashy," Vert advised. "She's probably long gone by now..."

"But...it's P-Ko..." Neptune protested.

I patted her head. "I know how you feel, but now's not the time. If she doesn't come back in an hour, then we'll go looking for her."

Neptune sighed. "Alright..."

I nodded and hoisted the petrified IF onto my back. "WAHHHH!"

I let the barrier around Compa disappear, and she walked back over to us.

"Why's Iffy crying?" Compa asked curiously.

Nepgear shook her head. "Just, please, try to make her smile."

Compa stared at Nepgear, confused. "I don't get it..."

Hikan hoisted Compa onto his back. "Let's just head home..."

* * *

"Mini-Histy...we're home..." Neptune called out as she dragged herself back into the Basilicom. "Oh...how are we going to tell her about P—"

"Pea Punch!"

*Thud!*

"Oof!" As a punch hit Neptune's gut, she crumpled to the floor. "Hey, P-ko! Why'd you punch me so—Wait," Neptune's eyes widened and she hugged P-ko. "P-Ko!"

"Oh, you're all back! (*^▽^*)" Mini-Histoire smiled at us. "Welcome home!"

"Wait, how did Peashy get home!?" Nepgear asked. "Didn't you say she also got kidnapped!?"

Mini-Histoire frowned. "I had thought that to be the case, however she just came home a few minutes before you all got home. (￣ー￣)"

Neptune shrugged. "Oh well! We did it!"

And as Neptune announced our victory, the Basilicom returned to it's normal, noisy self...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And that wraps up this chapter and event! The next chapter will be dedicated solely to being a special chapter. Also, school starts back up tomorrow. That means I'll be a lot more busy, but that four chapters a week will return soon! Also, I redid the summary for Colors of Darkness. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	100. Chapter 100

Chapter 100

"This...is really nice..." I stated as I leaned against the railing and watched the snowflakes float down. I turned to Plutia, who had decided to come along with me, to find her asleep. "Geez. There are snowflakes falling onto your hair. At least try to stay awake."

"Mmmgh...but...it feels sooo nice..." Plutia muttered.

I sighed. "You really are a handful," I took off my jacket and draped it over Plutia, leaving me in my undershirt. "C'mon, let's head home."

"Can you...carry meeee...?" Plutia asked in a sleepy tone.

"Sure," I let Plutia hop onto my back and then hoisted myself up. "Alright let's head home."

As I crunched through the snow, I looked up at the snow drifting down to the ground. A few months had passed since we had rescued the kids from the Seven Sages. Since then, the Seven Sages have remained low, and we were getting ready for Christmas, which was going to be in two weeks.

Not only that, but Neptune had decided to have a Christmas party, as promised. Although, it was really just all of us getting together to celebrate Christmas and have dinner together. "I'm not really a party guy..." I murmured. "Never really been to a party officially. Every party I went to, I was just there to assassinate someone."

"Mmgh... Silvy... Who are you talking to...?" Plutia asked as she let out a yawn.

I let out a chuckle. "Just me, myself and I."

"Okaaaay..." Plutia returned to her nap.

"Ah, we're here," I announced as we reached the doors to the Basilicom.

"Huuuurry up...!" Plutia whined. "I want to naaaap...!"

"Yeah, yeah," I picked up my pace and hurried into the Basilicom.

* * *

"Mini-Histoire! We're home!" I announced as I set Plutia down on the couch.

"Oh, welcome home, you two! (*^▽^*)" Mini-Histoire greeted me with a smile before squinting her eyes at me. "Have you bought your presents for everyone yet?（─。─）"

"Well..." I scratched my head. "I was actually about to go see if Hikan wanted to come with me."

"I see... (-_-)" Mini-Histoire continued to squint at me. "Well, if you do go, make sure to get the items on this list,(^▽^)" Mini-Histoire advised as she handed me a scrap of paper.

I nodded as I looked over the paper. "Alright," I smiled and looked back up at Mini-Histoire. "Anything else?"

Mini-Histoire shook her head, and I smiled. "Alright, then I'll be off."

I walked back towards Plutia and took my jacket back from her. Putting it back on, I patted her head and draped some nearby blankets over her. After I got my coat back on, I walked towards Hikan's room and knocked on his door. "Hey! You in there!?"

From the other side, I heard his voice. "What do you want?"

I sighed. "We're going to go Christmas shopping."

"WHAT!?" The door to Hikan's room burst open and, a second later, Hikan's face was in front of mine, filled with excitement. "Really!? You're not pulling my strings!?"

I shook my head and flashed the list Mini-Histoire handed me. "I was going to go Christmas shopping and Mini-Histoire also wanted me to get some things. I was wondering if you wanted to come too. Y'know, that way we could both get Christmas shopping out of the way."

Hikan formed a wide grin. "Are you kidding me? I love Christmas shopping. Sure, it's complete chaos, but it's still fun seeing all the Christmas decorations and watching the snow fall."

I shrugged. "I will admit, the snow is pretty, but I've never really thought too much about Christmas. Never really celebrated it with Tolise."

"Man, you didn't have a good past, huh?" Hikan questioned. " I can't say that I had the best past either, but I did celebrate Christmas a few times with Neptune and the others. It was pretty fun."

"I guess I'll find out in a few weeks," I said. "But for now, let's just go shopping."

"Do you even know what to shop for?" Hikan asked.

I shrugged. "Sure. Presents for people and Christmas decorations, right? Those were usually the things they had at those Christmas parties I went to."

Hikan nodded. "Those are usually what people shop for. But I thought you said that you never attended Christmas parties?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that's right. Every time Tolise and I went to Christmas parties, it was usually for assassination missions."

"I see..." Hikan smiled. "Well, the past is the past. I'll go get my money, and we'll go shop."

I smiled. "Alright."

* * *

"I guess you're right," I admitted. "Seeing the Christmas decorations and snow falling is really a glorious sight."

Hikan nodded as we crunched our way through the snow, towards the shopping district."I told you, didn't I? That's one of the many things I enjoy when Christmas comes around."

"I guess..." I muttered as I watched the children play in the snow. "It's just that I'm so used to Christmas time just being a time to provide more chaos during elimination missions."

Hikan sighed and turned back to me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Look, just forget about your past. It doesn't help if you think about it. You're going to bring down my mood too."

I frowned. "I know. It's just that I can't stop thinking about it. I've never really celebrated a Christmas and all I can do is compare it to my past."

Hikan released his grip on my shoulder, turned around and continued walking towards the shopping district. "I guess you're kinda right. I understand where you're coming from, so I won't bug you about it anymore. It'll blow away eventually."

"I guess..." I picked up my pace to catch back up with him.

"Let's just focus on shopping for now," Hikan suggested. "Don't you have to get a present for your girlfriend?"

Unconsciously, I smiled at the word "girlfriend". It made me think about Nepgear and how happy I was to be with her. She was the Light in my Darkness, and I was so happy that I had met her.

"Hey," Hikan flicked my forehead and forced me out of my thoughts. "Stopped daydreaming about having sex or whatever with your girlfriend."

I felt a bit of blood rush to my head. "I wasn't thinking about that!" I stated. "I was just thinking about how happy I was to be with her."

Hikan formed a wide grin. "I know. I was just kidding."

I let out a groan. "Shouldn't you worry about getting Blanc a souvenir when we get back to our dimension, Hyper Dimension?"

Hikan kept his grin on. "I'll worry about that when we get there! For now, I just want to tease you!"

"You're really starting to turn into Neptune," I claimed. "The only difference is that you're not as childish."

"I'll take that as a compliment!" Hikan said.

"I don't think anybody would take that as a compliment," I muttered. As we turned a corner, I let out a low whistle. "Woah... This shopping district really is something..."

Hikan nodded. "Yup. I told you, didn't I?"

"I-I guess..." I forced the words out as I took in the sight. "I guess Christmas can be a great holiday as long as you're on the right side..."

The sight in front of me was, of course, the shopping district. The impressive part was the Christmas decorations. Everywhere was decorated with bright, colorful lights, there were Christmas trees set up every two blocks or so and many Santas were handing out snow globes. To add on to that, there was a snowman-building contest, there was an amusement park in progress and a parade was making it's way through the district.

"Impressed, huh?" Hikan questioned as he nudged my side.

I could only nod speechlessly. "Y-Yeah..."

Hikan's grin widened and he tugged on my arm. "C'mon, let's get shopping!"

I nodded as he pulled me with him towards the district. "What have I been missing out on?"

Hikan let out a laugh at my words. "Man, you really are making your life sound terrible. Just try to take it all in and let's get shopping for presents!"

"Yeah..." I shook my head to snap myself from my trance and focused on the shops. "Do you think there is a mall here?"

Hikan shrugged. "There could be. It is the shopping district after all," he pointed towards a lady up ahead, handing out snow globes to children. "Let's go ask her."

We jogged up to the lady and waited until she finished handing out the snow globes before grabbing her attention. "Excuse me, miss?" I spoke up as she handed out the last snow globe. "Could we ask for your assistance?"

"Hm?" The lady turned her attention towards me and smiled. Something about her seemed so familiar. "Sure! What do you need help with? Did you forget to buy Christmas presents too?" She joked.

While Hikan let out a laugh, I remained silent. Something about the lady's appearance felt so familiar. I just couldn't think of what it was. Instead, I smiled. "Actually, we were on our way to go buy our gifts, and we were wondering if you knew of a mall around here to buy gifts and such?"

The lady continued to smile. "Of course!" She pointed past her, towards a large skyscraper decorated by lights and balloons. "That's our biggest shopping center. There isn't anything I know that wouldn't be in there."

Hikan nodded. "Thanks. Silver, let's go," Hikan said.

"You go on," I suggested. "I'll catch up to you in a second."

He cocked his head. "Hm? Why?"

I shook my head. "Don't worry about it. This shouldn't take long."

Hikan stared at me for a second before he spun around and began to walk towards the skyscraper. "Whatever. But you better be beside me in five minutes, got it?"

I nodded. "That's more than enough time."

"Alright, seeya then," Hikan waved back at me as he walked away.

I turned back to the lady, who was smiling at me. "I'm sorry, but I can't waste any time. Are you who I think you are?" I asked.

The lady's smile turned into a wide grin as she let out a laugh. "Well, who do you think I am, Tolise?"

My eye's widened as she brought up that name. "I never told anyone that was my name...except..."

The lady nodded and pulled me into a hug. "It's good to see you too..."

My body began to tremble in her arms as the tears began streaming down my face. "I-I...*hic*…...I thought that you...*sniff*….you were...*hic*…..dead..."

"I did too..." 'She' said in a hushed tone. "But, apparently, I didn't die. It's good to see you, Tolise. I missed you..."

"*sniff*...H-Heh..." I pulled away from her. "I guess...*sniff*….I never told you my real name, did I?"

"What?" 'She' gave me a playful shove and pouted. "C'mon! We were best buddies, remember?"

I let out a laugh as I scratched the back of my head. "Well... I was different back then..."

'She' nodded. "I'll say! You were all emo back then. I mean, you still kinda are, but not as much."

"At least you haven't changed," I said.

"C'mon! Stop stalling and tell me your real name already! Y'know, being a true friend means being honest, y'know..." 'She' claimed.

I nodded. "Well, my real name is Silver, not Tolise. Tolise is actually my friend's name."

"What!? You made a friend!?" 'She' pouted. "I thought we had something special..."

"Y-Yeah... But I thought you...y'know..." I avoided the word.

'She' let out another laugh. "I know, I know."

"So what happened after you...um...didn't die?" I asked.

'She' leaned against a nearby wall and let out a sigh. "Well, I woke up in this dimension actually. I asked about you, but nobody seemed to know you. So, I changed my name and decided to live here in peace. I got a job and bought a room. But, in all that time, I never forgot about you, Silver."

I nodded. "Neither did I," I stated. "By the way, what are you called now?"

'She' smiled once again. "Well, I'm mainly just called Gemine here."

I nodded. "I see," I returned her smile. "Well, Gemine, we're having a Christmas party pretty soon. Do you want to come over?"

Gemine squinted her eyes at me. "You said 'we'… How many friends have you made since we parted ways?"

I let out a dry laugh. "C-Could you just answer the question?"

Gemine smiled and nodded. "Alright. I'll come. Where is it?"

"It's at the Basilicom," I answered.

Gemine's eyes widened. "You have a friend that can get you into the Basilicom?!"

"U-Um... It's more like I know a few," I replied.

"Alright," Gemine nodded. "I'll come!"

"Thanks," I turned towards the skyscraper. "I'm glad to see you."

"You too," Gemine called out as I ran to catch up with Hikan.

As I ran, I thought about Gemine. "I guess there really are such things as Christmas miracles..."

* * *

"Damnit!" Hikan cursed as I ran up to him. "You were so close!"

"Well, I kept my promise, didn't I?" I asked.

"Yeah, but you took four minutes and fifty-five seconds!" Hikan stated. "At least you made it though."

I nodded. "Yeah. So let's go and get shopping."

The two of us stepped towards the skyscraper's doors as they slid open for us. As I walked in, I gulped at how many shops there were. "This is just the first floor..."

Hikan nodded. "That lady really wasn't lying, was she?"

I formed a wide grin. "This place will definitely have what Nepgear wants!"

"Oh?" Hikan cocked his head at me. "Do you already know what you're going to get her?"

I nodded. "Yup. But I'm not letting anyone know."

"Whatever," Hikan pointed towards Mini-Histoire's list as I pulled it out. "Let's get Mini-Histy's stuff first before we go shopping for presents."

I nodded and examined the list. "Hey," I handed Hikan the list. "Can't we just find all these in a decoration store and food market?"

Hikan nodded. "Yeah. It's just food and Christmas decorations anyways."

"Then let's go!" I began to jog towards a nearby store.

"Hey! Wait up!" Hikan called after me.

* * *

"Well, that's over now," I let out a groan. "Now we just have to head home."

Hikan nodded and pointed towards the box I was carrying over my shoulder. "I just wish I knew what was in that box..."

I gave him a grin. "It's a surprise only for Nepgear."

"Yeah, yeah," Hikan pulled out a small, wrapped item. "I'm just glad Blanc is easy to please."

"Hm?" I cocked my head at him. "Did you get a present for this dimension's Blanc and our dimension's Blanc?"

"Of course," Hikan stated. "I bought presents for everyone."

"That's kind of you," I complimented as we opened the door to the Basilicom living room. "Yo! We're home!"

"Ah!" Mini-Histoire smiled at us. "Welcome home! I trust that you've bought your gifts and the things on my list?（＾▽＾）" Mini-Histoire asked.

I nodded and set the bag at her feet. "We're going to go unload these at the Christmas tree. Do you need any help?"

Mini-Histoire shook her head. "I'll be fine!(￣▽￣)"

Hikan and I both nodded and we went to unload our gifts under the Christmas tree.

* * *

 **Nepgear's POV**

"Oogh..." I sunk my face into my pillow. "What should I get him...?"

Christmas was in a few days and I had gotten presents for everyone except for one person, Silver. I had thought long and hard about it, but, in the end, I couldn't think of anything to get him.

"I thought I knew him well, but I guess not..." I murmured as I rolled to face the ceiling. "What kind of a girlfriend am I? I don't even know what to get my lover..."

*Knock! Knock!*

Before I could sink further into my thoughts, a knock at the door brought me back to reality. "U-Um, i-it's open!"

The door clicked open and Neptune and Plutia walked in. "Oh! There you are, Nep Jr.!"

I stared at them with a puzzled expression. "Plutia? Sis? What is it? What's wrong?"

"Ahaha... Well..." Neptune let out a dry laugh. "Two things, actually. One, I'm kinda hungry. Two, I can't figure out what to get Silver for Christmas, and, since you're his lover, I thought you would know!"

I let out a disappointed sigh. "You don't know either, huh?"

"What!?" Neptune let out a gasp. "You mean you don't know!?"

I quietly shook my head. "N-No..."

"But you're the one that's all lovey dovey with him or whatever! You should know! You did the thing with the stick and the hole!" Neptune spouted out.

"N-Neptune!" I felt the blood rush to my head. "Don't say weird things like that!"

"Ummm... What's the stick and the hole...?" Plutia asked.

"D-Don't worry about it, Plutia!" I reassured her. "I-It's nothing!"

"Okaaay...!" Plutia smiled innocently.

"Goodness..." I let out a sigh. "Anyway, what are we going to get him?"

"Hmmm..." Neptune's face lit up. "Oh! I know! Let's just go ask Turtle!"

I stared at my older sister blankly. "Y-You mean Tolise, right?"

"Yeah! That dude!" Neptune stated. "Let's go ask him! He's the person that's closest to Silver! So he has to know!"

"I-I guess..." I turned to Plutia. "Plutia, do you also not have a gift for Silver?"

Plutia shook her head and giggled. "I dooo... But it's a secret...!"

"Whatever! Let's just go summon the wise, old Turtle!" Neptune said as she dragged me out of the room with her.

"N-Neptune!"

* * *

 **Silver's POV**

I smiled at Nepgear. "I guess we finished making Christmas dinner, huh?"

Nepgear nodded and looked at the spread of food laid on the table. "Ehehe! I think we'll actually get fat from eating this much."

I let out a laugh. "Don't worry! We can always burn it off by playing with the kids," I said as I went to get the plastic wrap.

"That reminds me," Hikan spoke up as he took some of my plastic wrap. "What time is it anyways? The kids should be getting up pretty soon."

"You're right," Nepgear agreed as we wrapped the food and looked up at the digital clock hanging on the wall. "It's almost seven o' clock. They'll probably be getting up pretty soon."

I let out a chuckle. "That means peace and quiet will end pretty soon too. At least we managed to finish the dinner."

"IT'S CHRISTMAS!"

As Nepgear, Hikan and I finished wrapping the dinner and walked out to the living room, Peashy, IF and Compa burst out of Plutia's room and ran towards the Christmas tree.

I let out a sigh. "Hey, take it easy. If you don't wait for everyone to get here, you won't get your desserts."

The kids let go of their presents and let out huffs. "Awww... But we woke up so early!" Peashy whined.

"But you don't want just yourself to see what's in your presents, do you?" Hikan questioned.

"I don't care! I want to open them right now!" Peashy whined.

"Goodness. What should we do?" Nepgear asked.

I shook my head. "Kids are kids," I let out another sigh. "Alright, I'll let you all open one gift each. But, if you do, you won't get seconds of dessert!"

"Hey! That's not fair!" IF complained.

"We made the desserts. It's not your choice," I stuck out my tongue.

The girls pouted and crossed their arms. "Fine! We'll wait!" Peashy complained.

I smiled. "Good."

*Knock! Knock!*

"I got it!" Nepgear dashed towards the door and clicked it open. "Hm? Who are you?"

"Who is it?" I approached the door to see who it was. "Oh, hey, Gemine!"

Gemine smiled at me. "Heya."

Nepgear stared at the both of us. "Silver, do you know this person?"

Gemine and I grinned. "We're...old acquaintances."

"Hm?" Hikan walked towards us. "Hey! You're that lady from the shopping district!"

Gemine smiled. "Good to meet you too."

"I invited her over for the party," I explained. "Don't worry. She's a good person."

Nepgear let out a sigh. "If you think she's a good person, then I guess she can't be that bad."

"Yeah. She was nice enough when we last saw her," Hikan agreed.

We let Gemine in, and she set her coat on the coat hanger nearby. She grinned when she saw the kids. "Silver, you've already had kids?" Gemine let out a laugh and pointed towards Nepgear. "Did you two get married and have kids?"

Nepgear blushed, and I let out a groan. "These are just kids we're just looking after. Plus, she's only my girlfriend."

Gemine continued smiling. "I see..." She turned back to the children. "Well, they're pretty cute!"

Nepgear clung to my shoulder as Hikan let out a sigh. "Well, I guess we'll have to wait for the others."

I nodded. "Yeah. They should be here soon. Plus, Plutia and Neptune should be up by the time everyone's here."

"Alright," Gemine smiled at us. "Then I guess we'll just have to wait!"

* * *

After the CPUs had arrived and Neptune, Plutia and Mini-Histoire had woke up, we distributed presents and began unwrapping them. Most of the presents were pretty normal. Clothes, cash, candy and toys. We did, however, all each get unique gifts.

The most unique gift I had received was a stuffed animal version of myself that Plutia had made. Nepgear and Neptune had gotten me a jacket, asking if I liked it. I had told them I did but that I cared more about spending time with them than whatever they bought me.

I had gotten Neptune a shipment of pudding from the fanciest pudding company in Gamindustri.

Plutia had received a new pair of slippers from Noire. She had also asked me for a kiss. I had agreed and kissed her forehead, the safest place to kiss. However, Nepgear wasn't too happy about that.

I had gotten Nepgear a remote-controlled mini-mech and a silver necklace with a pink diamond.

Blanc had given Hikan a picture of her smiling, which surprised all of us.

Hikan had bought Noire a sewing kit, and Nepgear had bought Noire a security device for her Basilicom.

Hikan had gotten Blanc a bonsai tree and a book about Gamindustri.

Nepgear and Neptune had bought Vert a complete collection of a video game series, and I had bought her a new headset.

Neptune had gotten Mini-Histoire bookmark stickers, and I had bought her a bookmark with a panda design.

Plutia had made Peashy a stuffed animal of herself and a new pair of paws.

I had gifted IF a pair of wooden katar blades, and Hikan had gotten her a spy agent manga.

Finally, Nepgear had gotten Compa a cookbook and a mini kitchen set. Neptune, however, had gotten her a textbook on medicine. Originally, she had gotten Compa a manga about a nurse. However, it turned out to be an adult book. So we improvised and ended up getting Compa a textbook instead. But Compa actually seemed to like the textbook.

Those were the most unique gifts that we had gifted each other. I had tried to give Gemine something, but she refused, saying that being in the Basilicom was already enough. After that, we had all gone out to eat brunch, we went out to play, and, after spending hours outside, came home for dinner.

"That was a good dinner! My belly is so full!" Neptune let out a burp as she laid back in her chair. "Can I have dessert yet?"

Noire let out a sigh. "Neptune, you just ate about half the spread. You still want dessert?"

"It's fine," Nepgear reassured Noire. "I knew this would happen. That's why I made sure to make extra dessert."

"Yay! You're the best Nep Jr.!" Neptune grinned widely.

"Still, you shouldn't stuff yourself with so much food," Vert advised. "I do agree that it does taste good, but you'll end up barfing it back up if you're not careful."

"I haven't barfed yet, so I'll be fine," Neptune claimed.

"I wonder about that," Hikan said as he took a sip from his drink. "Your belly is already filled by the dinner. If you were to consume anything else, you really might hurl."

"Nah! I eat way more pudding than this!" Neptune boasted.

"Wooow...! You're soooo amazing Neppy...!" Plutia said.

"That's not something you should be proud of," I muttered.

"Silver's right," Blanc agreed. "You should take your time to enjoy the food. Rather than stuffing it all in your mouth and not savoring the taste."

"I'm not sure about that," I glanced over at Gemine. "She's eaten just as much food as Neptune."

Gemine grinned widely. "Hey, it'll be fine! I have a high metabolism!"

"By the way, Silver,(￣ー￣)" Mini-Histoire spoke up. "Who is she anyways? She just showed up here.( ∵ )"

I shrugged. "She's an old friend of mine. If you looked, you might be able to find her in your tome."

"Really!?Σ(･口･)" Mini-Hsitoire's jaw fell open. "How can you be so sure?"

"Can you find information about Neptune and I?" I asked.

Mini-Histoire nodded.

I smiled. "Then you could most likely find out information about her."

"Still," Gemine stared at the people sitting at the table. "I can't believe that you knew the CPUs of Gamindustri."

"That's not all," I pointed towards Neptune, Nepgear and Hikan. "I also know the CPUs from Hyper Dimension."

"Wow," Gemine let out a sigh. "Our lives really have changed, haven't they?"

I nodded. "They sure have..."

"Hey!" Peashy began to wave her arms. "I want desert!"

"Hey, no fair, P-Ko!" Neptune frowned. "I called dibs on desert first!"

"Nep, Pea, it's called dessert, not desert!" IF corrected. "You two are so dumb!"

I sighed. "It doesn't matter. It's time to have dessert anyways," I turned to Nepgear. "You think they'll be able to handle what we made?"

Nepgear let out a dry laugh. "I'm not actually sure..."

"Hey! Show me! Show me!" Peashy whined. "I wanna eat deserts!"

"Hey, Hikan!" Neptune turned to Hikan. "Do you know what they made? You made food with them, right?"

Hikan let out a chuckle. "I helped with making the dinner, but I have no idea what the two of them made for dessert. I do know they took a few hours to make it though. They wouldn't even show me once they finished it."

"That's not right!" Neptune stuck out her tongue towards me.

"It'll be fine," I reassured Neptune. "We made enough to last a while. It'll be worth the suspense."

"Silver! Can you help me carry it?" Nepgear asked as she got to the refrigerator.

I nodded. "Sure," I said as I jogged up to her. We carried the dessert from the bottom of the dish and slowly made our way to the table. "C-Could you guys make some room? I'm not sure if I can get this onto the table if you all crowd around me."

Everyone instantly scooted away and we placed the dessert at the middle of the table.

"What is it!? What is it!?" Neptune asked. "Take off the cover already!"

I turned to Nepgear. "You do it. You made it after all. I just helped."

"O-Okay," Nepgear nodded and slowly took off the lid.

"Woah," Hikan let out a low whistle. "That's...amazing."

Gemine let out a laugh. "Silver, you better keep that girl if you want to keep having good food made for you!"

"I-It's...so big!" Noire stared at the dessert in shock.

"It certainly is a sight to behold," Vert stated. "Oooh! Now I want Nepgear to myself even more now!"

"I know I won't finish this," Blanc stated.

"It looks so sweet!" P-Ko stared at the dessert with wide eyes.

"I want to marry this thing!" Neptune shouted as she drooled.

"I guess they like what you made, Nepgear," I smiled at her. "I told you, didn't I?"

"I guess," Nepgear could only respond with a wide grin.

The dessert Nepgear had decided to prepare was a triple-layered cake. The cake was mainly a red velvet cake with a filling of vanilla pudding and vanilla frosting. The bottom layer was layered by vanilla icing and there were peppermints at the edges of the cake layer. The middle layer was layered with a green vanilla icing and had tiny gingerbread men at the edges. Finally, the top layer had another layer of white vanilla icing, was surrounded by gumdrops and, at the center of the layer, was a small gingerbread house.

"What do you think, Neptune?" I asked. "Was it worth the wait?"

"Heck yeah! Gimme a fork so that I can eat it all!" Neptune demanded.

"Yeah, yeah," I went and got the paper plates and forks as Nepgear began cutting the cake.

"Y'know what?" Neptune asked as I returned with the plates and forks. "This really has been a good Christmas."

I nodded. "It's been a pretty wild year too."

"Well, that's fine," Hikan shrugged. "It means more memories for us to remember."

"That is true," I agreed as I began to distribute the cake.

"Putting that aside, we still need to say one thing," Gemine reminded us.

"Oh yeah. How could I forget?" I distributed the last slice of cake and stood up. "Everyone. Merry Christmas!"

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And now we're at the end of this chapter! This chapter was made extra long and took a while to edit. That's why it took three days to make. Also, there is an important detail in this chapter that will play an important role in a future arc. But that's all I have to say this time and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Thank you all for sticking around for this long, it really is appreciated. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Also, go check out _pardus9_! He has started writing a Fanfiction, and I suggest checking out his story.**


	101. Chapter 101

Chapter 101

"Alright, everyone!" Neptune got on top of the tea table and clapped her hands, causing everyone's attention to turn to her. "I have called this meeting for one reason!"

"Yeeeaaahhhh...!" Plutia pumped her fist into the air.

A few weeks had passed since Christmas. Gemine had gone home and everything was back to it's usual chaos, as if nothing had ever happened. After everything had returned to normal, Neptune had called a meeting for all the CPUs in Plutia's room, claiming it was urgent.

"Why are we here this time?" Noire asked. "Everytime we call an urgent meeting, it's just so that you can get us to come over here and play with you all. Listen, I'm a VERY busy person."

Blanc snorted. "That's hard to believe, considering you come here almost everyday."

"S-Shut up!" Noire barked.

"Putting those two aside, why did you call us all here?" Vert asked.

"Well, we recently received a call from our Histoire," Nepgear explained.

"Oh really?" Noire cocked her head.

"Yup!" Neptune nodded and began wiggling her fingers. "Cue the flashback scene!"

*Enchanting strums of a harp plays*

* * *

 **Third Person POV**

 _"So what's up, Histy?" Neptune asked as Histoire's holographic image was cast for everyone to see._

 _"Ah, Neptune," Histoire nodded and turned to face Silver. "Silver, is Neptune behaving?"_

 _He nodded. "She's being Neptune."_

 _"I see..." Histoire relieved a sigh. "In that case, how is it on your side?"_

 _"It's been really peaceful lately," Nepgear said. "The children are safe, and the Seven Sages haven't done anything in a few months."_

 _"Iffy always listens to me now..." Plutia added. "She's suuuch a good girl..."_

 _Hikan shivered at Plutia's words. "Don't remind me of that. Just don't."_

 _"Yeah. It's bad enough that IF now calls you Lady Plutia..." I muttered._

 _"So everything is normal on your end I see," Histoire looked back over at Silver. "By the way, have you been completing quests for shares, Silver?"_

 _Silver nodded. "Yeah. Hikan sometimes comes with me too, but, usually, I do two or three a day."_

 _Histoire flashed Silver a small smile. "I see... That's good," Histoire's expression switched to a serious one. "However, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to do more than you're already doing."_

 _Nepgear cocked her head. "What do you mean, Histoire?"_

 _"I mean I need you all to try harder with collecting shares for Planeptune," Histoire stated._

 _"Faster and harder? Why? Is it really that bad on your end, Histy?" Hikan asked in a concerned tone._

 _"Yes, I'm afraid it is," Histoire claimed. "With Neptune gone, the Citizens Group has targeted Planeptune since there isn't a CPU there. We're at a point to where the other CPUs have decided to take turns helping out Planeptune in Neptune's absence. However, the situation is still very dire."_

 _Neptune snorted. "Ha! Even the great Perfect Heart can't stop it! I guess I must really be better!"_

 _Silver let out a groan. "Are you still salty about not being number one on the poll?"_

 _"You better believe it!" Neptune shouted. "How can Miss Tsundere beat me!? I'm the adorable main character! At least I'm honest about my feelings!"_

 _"Hey! Don't talk about me!" Noire demanded as her holographic image came up beside Histoire's._

 _"Oh, great. It's Miss Perfect Heart," Neptune let out a groan. "Why are you even in this call?"_

 _"You shut up! I'm only here because Histoire asked me to be here!" Noire claimed. "I-It's not like I'm doing this for YOUR sake or anything!"_

 _"Still as Tsundere as ever I see..." Hikan sighed._

 _"Woooow...! Neppy's Noire acts like my Noire..!" Plutia stated._

 _"I guess, wherever she is, Noire will always be Tsundere..." Silver stated as he shook his head. "Poor, poor Noire..."_

 _"Just get back on topic!" Noire ordered Histoire. "Hurry!"_

 _"Alright," Histoire let out a sigh and turned back to face Neptune. "Neptune, I need you and the others to do your utmost best with collecting more shares for Planeptune. The situation here is getting worse by the day. Please, do hurry..."_

 _Neptune gave Histoire the thumbs up. "Don't worry, Histy! Leave everything to your friendly neighborhood Nep!"_

 _Histoire nodded and turned to Plutia. "Plutia, I know this must be hard on you. But, please, give them your support."_

 _"…" Plutia just stared at the ground and sighed._

 _"Anyway," Histoire turned to Hikan and Silver. "I'm out of time now. Keep doing your best to gather shares for Planeptune."_

 _The two boys nodded as Histoire and Noire's images disappeared..._

* * *

 **Silver's POV**

"And that's what happened!" Neptune said as the flashback ended.

"So? Why did you call us here?" Noire asked.

"Gosh, Noire! Get that stick out of your butt!" Neptune said. "I went through all that trouble of having that flashback, and I'm not taking that as a response!"

"Still, what is the point of this meeting?" Blanc asked. "You still haven't explained that to us."

"I agree with Blanc," Vert stated. "We need to know the reason for this meeting before we can offer a proper response."

"Well, what we're asking is that you help us gather shares for Planeptune," Nepgear answered.

"… Yeah, no," Noire crossed her arms. "I've heard you all say some pretty stupid crap, but this has got to be the dumbest!"

"Yeah, I agree with Noire," Blanc stated. "Not only am I helping my enemy nation, but I'm also helping them gather shares. That's something I just can't do."

"What! But c'mon! We're best buddies and all that jazz!" Neptune claimed. "Can't you help a buddy out?"

"Usually, I wouldn't mind helping, but this effects me as well," Noire stated. "If it was some smaller request, I wouldn't mind. But this effects my nation too."

"I agree. Sorry," Blanc bowed her head.

"Shoot!" Neptune turned to Vert. "Well, what about you, Verty?"

Vert flashed a small smile. "I don't mind helping and all."

Neptune gasped. "Wow! Vert, you're so cool! I guess it's true that the size of your heart depends on a person's chest size!"

A chilling air filled the room and Blanc cast Neptune a deadly, cold glare. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY!?"

"That can't be true, considering how Noire acts," Hikan muttered.

"But if I help, it also means that my sweet Nepgear will return home sooner," Vert let out a sigh.

"Vert..." Nepgear stared at Vert with a sympathetic look.

"But it's fine," Vert reassured. "It wouldn't be good if Nepgear remained here but was unhappy. I simply can't bear to see a sight like that."

I nodded. "Thanks, Vert."

"What about you two?" Hikan asked.

"I'm sticking to my word," Noire stated.

"Sorry, I can't," Blanc let out a sigh.

"Pleeasse...!" Plutia begged. "We have to help them get hooome...!"

"Huh?" Noire, Vert and Blanc stared at Plutia in disbelief. Noire spoke up. "But if they left, you'd be left on your own. You'd be the loneliest out of all of us."

"Think about it. You could possibly never see them again," Blanc added on.

"I knooow..." Plutia agreed.

"You'll be the saddest without them. Don't you know that?" Vert asked.

"Well, I do. Buuuut..." Plutia scratched her head. "Ummmm... I don't know how to say it..."

I smiled at Plutia. "You're trying to say you'd rather sulk without us knowing, rather than us knowing that you sulked. Something like that, right?"

Plutia turned her head to me and smiled. "Yeah...! That...!"

"…" Blanc let out a moan. "I guess it can't be helped anyways. I'll help you guys get enough shares to get home. It'll be pretty quiet without you all, but I do owe Silver."

"Thanks, Blanc!" Neptune shined Blanc a bright smile.

"Thanks Blanny...!" Plutia lunged towards Blanc and hugged her.

"Mmgh..." We watched as Noire squirmed around in her position. "I-I guess I can help!"

Nepgear stared at Noire with a shocked expression. "R-Really?!"

"B-But it's not because I care or anything!" Noire claimed. "I-It's becau—"

Blanc cut Noire off. "Let me guess. Is it along the lines of "It's not because I care or anything! It's because Plutia asked me to!"?" Blanc said in her best Noire voice. "Is that it?"

"H-Hey! Don't finish my sentences for me!" Noire said as she crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks. "But I guess I could help. Not like I care...

"Yaaay...!" Plutia threw her hands into the air. "Everyone, thank you all soooo much...!"

"Wait," Noire turned back to Neptune. "I'm not exactly against the idea anymore but why couldn't four CPUs accumulate a decent amount of shares on their own? I understand Silver and Hikan work. But what about Neptune, Plutia and Nepgear?"

"Ahahaha..." Neptune let out a dry laugh as she scratched her head and averted her gaze. "W-Well...y'know. The kids are really a handful! A lot of our time is spent taking care and playing with them!"

"Hey! That's a lie!" IF pointed out as she hopped off Plutia's bed. "All Nep does is play with Peashy!"

"Nuh-uh!" Peashy also hopped off Plutia's bed. "Neptuna doesn't play with me! I play with Neptuna!"

"It's not fair!" Compa was the last to hop off of Plutia's bed. "Nep-Nep only plays with Pea and doesn't pay any attention to me!"

I turned to Neptune. "Everytime we came back from questing, you would say that you couldn't do anything that day because you were too busy playing with the kids, right?"

Neptune gave a timid nod. "Y-Yeah?"

"I think you meant to say 'kid', not the plural version, 'kids', considering you mainly focused most of your time playing with Peashy," I stated.

"Well, Neptune is, of course, lazy," Noire turned her head to Plutia and Nepgear. "What about you, Nepgear? Why couldn't you help the guys do quests?"

Nepgear also let out a dry laugh. "Y-You see...um..." Nepgear gulped. "I was busy taking care of Neptune and spending time with Silver. I haven't seen him in so long, you know?"

"That's the worst excuse yet," Blanc stated as she shook her head. "I can believe the part about Neptune, but you arrived here several years ago. You've already had so much time to spend with Silver."

Vert turned to Plutia. "Which leaves you, Plutia."

"Ehehehe..." Plutia scratched her head. "Wellll...I was taking care of Neppy too, and I wanted Silver to make pretty magic with his powers..."

I sighed as Plutia mentioned that. "We nearly blew up somebody's home because of that, remember?"

Plutia bowed her head. "Sorry..."

Blanc sighed and turned back to Nepgear. "See? Why can't you be completely honest like Plutia?"

"T-That's..." Nepgear searched for an answer.

"Forget it," Hikan reassured Nepgear. "Let's just get back on topic. We need to make sure that we all agree on this plan for gathering shares for Planeptune."

I nodded. "Yeah. Everyone, let's all work hard to gather shares for Planeptune so that we can go home!"

Everyone nodded and pumped their fist into the air. "Yeah!"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And here's the chapter's end! Now that I'm finished with Chapter 100, the next several chapters will focus on the story of the third arc. Also, since school has started, I might start uploading four chapters a week sometime soon. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	102. Chapter 102

Chapter 102

"We' re back, Mini-Histy!"Neptune announced as we all returned to the Basilicom.

"Oh, welcome home, everyone!(*^▽^*)" Mini-Histoire smiled at us. "How were your quests today?"

Plutia collapsed onto the couch. "I'm sooo tired..."

Ever since the CPUs had agreed to help us collect shares, we had spent the last few weeks doing dozens of quests everyday.

I turned to Mini-Histoire. "We did about eighteen quests."

"That's good!(＾▽＾)" Mini-Histoire stated. "But I'm afraid we have a problem here.(･.･;)"

"Huh? What's wrong, Mini-Histy?" Neptune asked.

"Peashy! Don't eat that!" Compa voice called out from the kitchen.

"But I want it!" Peashy's whine also rang from the kitchen. "I wanna eat Neptuna's pudding!"

"WHAT!?" Neptune quickly sprinted towards the kitchen as Nepgear and I followed close behind her. "P-Ko! Don't eat that!"

"Uh-oh," Nepgear formed a cold sweat. "This doesn't look like it's going to end well."

I shook my head. "No, it doesn't."

We had ran into the kitchen to find IF, Compa and Peashy. The only problem was that Peashy had Neptune's pudding in her hand. Since Neptune liked her pudding and the children also liked to eat pudding, Neptune had to label her's "Nep's" to make sure nobody ate her pudding. Now, Peashy had Neptune's pudding in her hands and was ready to eat it.

"P-Ko! Don't eat that pudding! That's my pudding! That's why it's labeled 'Nep's'!" Neptune stated. Neptune then ran to the fridge and pulled it open. "Look! There's still pudding in here!"

"No!" Peashy stuck out her tongue. "I want to eat Neptuna's pudding!"

"Why!?" Neptune asked. "They all taste the same! The same flavor, color and expiration date!"

"But it's Neptuna's pudding!" Peashy stated. "I want to eat Neptuna's pudding!"

"But why!?" Neptune's arms began to flail. "They're practically the same!"

"But it's Neptuna's pudding!" Peashy repeated.

"I kind of get what she wants," I smiled. "Hey, Neptune. Toss me one of the pudding cups in the fridge."

Neptune cocked her head at me. "Huh? Why?"

I waved my hand. "Just do it. I have an idea."

"Okay, sure," Neptune reached into the fridge, pulled out a pudding cup and tossed it over to me.

"Thanks," I caught the pudding and turned to Nepgear. "Do you have a marker, by any chance?"

"Huh? Sure," Nepgear reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a marker. "What do you want me to do with this?"

"Take this," I handed the pudding over to Nepgear.

"Hm?" Nepgear stared at the pudding with a confused look. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

I formed a wide grin. "Just take that marker and write 'Nep's' on it."

Nepgear eyes widened in realization of my plan."Oh, I get it!" Nepgear took the cap off the marker and scrawled the word 'Nep's' onto it. "Peashy! Look!"

"Huh?" Peashy's attention turned to Nepgear. "What is it?"

Nepgear waved the pudding in her hands. "Look! I have another pudding labeled 'Nep's'!"

Peashy's eyes began to sparkle. "Really!?" Peashy ran towards Nepgear and swiped the pudding from her. "Yay! Now I have Neptuna's pudding!"

"Boy, she really does look happy," Neptune claimed.

"Well, P-Ko does have a deep admiration for you, Neptune,(＾∇＾)" Mini-Histoire stated as she floated in.

"Yay!" Peashy tore the seal off of the pudding cup and began scarfing the pudding down her mouth.

"Holy crapperoni!" Neptune stared at Peashy in shock as Peashy gobbled the pudding. "Hey! You're supposed to use the spoon! You're getting the spoon all over your face!"

Peashy, however, ignored Neptune's words and continued scarfing down the pudding. As Peashy finished the pudding, she formed a wide grin. "Was it good, Peashy?(^▽^)" Mini-Histoire asked.

"Yeah!" Peashy smiled brightly. "Neptuna's pudding is the best!"

Nepgear smiled at Peashy. "Goodness. Peashy really admires Neptune."

I nodded. "I think, from now on, we're going to have to have two pudding cups labeled 'Nep's'," I advised.

Nepgear nodded. "Right."

Mini-Histoire let out a sigh and turned to Peashy. "Alright, Peashy. It's time to nap."

"Oh!" Peashy ran back towards the living room and towards Plutia, who was napping away on the couch. We followed after her.

"Peashy? What's wrong?" Hikan asked as he talked with Blanc on the couch.

Peashy pulled out her stuffed animal of herself, which was torn to shreds, and shook at Plutia. "Ploot! Ploot! Wake up!"

"Peashy, don't disturb Plu while she's sleeping," Compa suggested.

"Peashy! Don't disturb Lady Plutia!" IF commanded. "If you do, she might get mad!"

"Ploot! Wake up!" Peashy ignored Compa and IF's suggestions, and continued shaking Plutia.

"Mmgh..." Plutia rubbed her eyes and peeked her eyes open. "Huuuh...? What is it, Peashy...?"

"Here!" Peashy showed her torn up stuffed animal to Plutia. "Fix it!"

"Hm...?" Plutia took Peashy's stuffed animal and gasped. "Peashy... how did you tear it up sooo fast...?"

Peashy waved her arms. "It's too weak!"

"Reallly...?" Plutia frowned stared at the stuffed animal with deep thought. "Maybe I need to use a tougher material..."

"No!" Peashy denied. "I like this one!"

"But why...?" Plutia stared at Peashy with a look of confusion. "A new one would be sooo much tougher and better..."

"No!" Peashy pointed at one of the holes in the stuffed animals. "Look! There's so much Ploot stuffed into it!"

"Whaaaaat...!?" Plutia stared at the stuffed animal in shock. "I'm in it...!?"

"Yeah!" Peashy pointed at a cotton hole in the stuffed animal. "See? It's right there!"

"Well... I guess I'll go fix it..." Plutia rolled off the couch. "But if there's me stuffed in here, then you should try to be a liiittle less rough with it..."

Peashy shook her head. "It's too weak!"

"Okaay..." Plutia nodded her head. "I'll go fix it..."

We watched as Plutia waddled away to her room with Peashy's stuffed animal.

"C'mon, Peashy,(･_･;)" Mini-Histoire tugged on Peashy's arm. "Let's go nap."

"No!" Peashy shook her head. "I'm not going to nap unless I have my stuffed animal!"

"She really cares about that thing, huh?" Noire wondered.

"Of course," Vert stated. "Her love for Plutia is in it. It's just like my love for Nepgear."

"You'll just have to wait for Plutia to finish fixing Peashy's stuffed animal before you can get Peashy to take her nap," Hikan advised Mini-Histoire.

Mini-Histoire let out a sigh. "I guess you're right...(⌣_⌣")"

"Hey, Peashy!" IF tugged on Peashy's arm. "Let's finish what we were doing yesterday!"

"Yeah!" Peashy grinned widely and the two of them dashed back towards the kitchen. They then began to take papers, full of scribbles, off the dining table.

"Wait, what are you two doing?" Hikan asked as he hopped off the couch and walked towards the kitchen.

"Yeah! What is this!?" Neptune asked as she pointed towards one of the drawings. "What are you two drawing?"

"We're not doing something as simple as drawing," IF claimed. "This is something way more advanced."

"Are you two making a story?" I asked.

IF nodded. "Yeah! I knew you'd figure it out, Silver!"

"Oh! What's that!?" Neptune asked as she pointed towards one of the pictures.

"Neptune, maybe we shouldn't ask them about the drawings," Nepgear suggested. "This could cause some embarrassment for IF in the future."

Neptune waved her hand. "Relax, Nep Jr.! We'll get a good laug—I-I mean we shouldn't stop a kid's creative ideas!"

I let out a sigh. "I'm pretty sure that's not what you really want..."

"Oh! This one!" IF showed us one of the pictures.

The picture was just what you'd expect a child to draw. There was a stick figure with an arm in the air, it's hand seemed to be glowing.

Hikan blinked at the drawing and pointed towards the glowing hand. "Hey. Why is that dude's hand glowing?"

Peashy and IF formed wide grins. "That's because his hand has the power of one of the Gaias!"

"Um... Okay?" Hikan stared at the drawing with confusion. "I don't know what a Gaia is though..."

"It's so cool!" Peashy bounced up and down. "It makes stuff go kablooey!"

"But, since it's so powerful, it has a cost," IF explained. "See, if you use it more than three times, it's hand will become disemboweled!"

"I have to admit, that's pretty creative," Blanc stated. "At least, in a way it is..."

"Bwahaha!" Neptune let out a laugh and held her side. "That's great! Okay, okay!" Neptune pointed towards another drawing. "What's that feather-looking thing do?"

I took a closer look at the drawing. It looked like a giant white feather.

"Why is there only one feather though?" I asked.

IF shook her head. "It's not a feather, you dummies! It's a wing!"

Hikan and I both stared at the "wing" and exchanged glances. "No offense, IF, but I don't see a wing anywhere," Hikan stated.

IF let out a sigh and she pointed towards the "wing". "Look, it's a wing! Metatron got angered by what she did, so the rest of the wing was ripped off."

"Um... Since when was there a 'she'?" I wondered.

Peashy nodded. "Yeah! So we put a bug's wing there instead! Look! I helped make this!" Peashy pointed towards part of the "wing" that was colored a forest green.

IF shook her head. "That's not any bug's wing, Peashy! It's the Lord of Flies, Beelzebub!"

"Mghf..!" I quickly placed a hand over my mouth to hide my laughter.

"HAHAHA!" Neptune collapsed onto the ground in tears. "Beelzebub! AHAHA!"

"That's actually already the name of an anime," I muttered.

"O-Okay," Neptune wiped away her tears and pointed towards another drawing. "What's this one?"

IF smiled at the picture Neptune pointed towards. "Oh, that one is one of my favorites..."

While Neptune and Hikan observed IF and Peashy's ideas, Nepgear and I watched from a distance.

"They look like they're enjoying themselves," I said.

Nepgear nodded. "They sure do. I just hope that this doesn't come back to haunt IF..."

I grinned widely." I actually kind of want to see that..."

Nepgear faced me with a worried expression. "Silver, don't say that..."

I sighed but continued to smile. "Sorry..."

"Peashy,(･-･;)" Mini-Histoire tapped on Peashy's shoulder. "Would you like to finish your drawing while we wait for Plutia to fix your stuffed animal?(･_･)"

"Oh yeah!" Peashy ran into Plutia's room and came back out with a fistful of crayons along with a sheet of paper that had already been drawn on. "Histoire! Make sure nobody peeks!"

Mini-Histoire nodded. "I understand, Peashy!o(〃＾▽＾〃)o"

"Alright!" Peashy plopped onto the floor and began coloring on the sheet of paper with her crayons. "Scribble, scribble!"

All of us gathered around Peashy. I looked over at Mini-Histoire. "What's Peashy drawing?"

Mini-Histoire grinned widely. "It's a surprise. Peashy has been working on it since this morning!(=^▽^=)"

Hikan let out a low whistle. "That's pretty amazing," Hikan walked towards Peashy and tapped on her shoulder. "Peashy, can I take a look at what you're drawing?"

"No!" Peashy shook her head but didn't turn away from her drawing.

"What about your good ol' pal, Neptuna?" Neptune asked in an innocent tone.

"No! Not even Neptuna!" Peashy shook her head once again and continued to draw.

"What about me, Peashy?" Nepgear asked.

"Definitely not!" Peashy shook her head once more and kept drawing.

"Definitely not me..." Nepgear slumped over and bowed her head. I patted her head in an attempt to comfort her. Nepgear turned to me. "Silver, why don't you ask?"

I formed a wide grin as I scanned the drawing. "Actually, I can see it..."

"What!? Really!?" Noire got up in my face. "Tell me what it is! I am your best friend after all!"

"Back up, Lonely Heart! You don't have any friends!" Neptune claimed as she shoved Noire out of the way. "You'll tell me, right? I'm the adorable main character after all!"

"I'm not telling anyone," I announced. "It's an amazing drawing, and Peashy is almost done with it. So just wait."

"That's not fair!" Neptune crossed her arms and turned to Mini-Histoire. "Hey! Mini-Histy, do you know too?"

"Yes!(＾∇＾)" Mini-Histoire nodded. "I caught a peek of it earlier. Silver is right. It is an amazing drawing.(^-^)"

"What!?" Neptune crossed her arms. "Now I really want to know!"

"Scribble, scribble..." Peashy dropped her crayons and put the drawing to her chest. "Okay! It's done!"

"Really!?" Neptune got in front of Peashy. "Let me see! Let me see!"

"Ta-da!" Peashy held out the drawing for us to see. "Do you like it, Neptuna?"

"Hm? What is it?" Neptune stared at the drawing in confusion.

To anybody else, the drawing would have looked like a whole bunch of colorful scribbles. But that wasn't what it was. "Neptune, look again," I suggested as I pointed towards a lilac colored figure. "That's you. Don't you see? The drawing is of us—Peashy's family."

"Oh, I see it now!" Neptune nodded and pointed towards the lilac figure in the middle. 'That's me, that's Plutie and there's Noire off in the corner alone!"

Hikan smiled. "It truly is a masterpiece!"

Neptune nodded. "I'll say! This drawing could rival all those modern paintings!"

"Here!" Peashy put the drawing in Neptune's hands. "It's for you, Neptuna!"

Neptune returned Peashy's gift with a warm, bright smile. "Thanks, P-ko! I'll keep it forever!"

"Peeeaaashy...! I'm doooone...!" Plutia called from her room.

"Yay!" Peashy, with her eyes closed, sprinted towards Plutia's room.

"Hey! Look out!" I called.

*Thud!*

"Ouchies!" Peashy, upon hitting a wall over to Plutia's room, fell back onto the floor. "Ouch... That hurts!"

"Are you okay, Peashy?" Compa asked as she ran to Peashy's side.

"It hurts..." Peashy repeated.

"Don't worry! Compa will make your booboo go away!" Compa claimed as she pulled out a giant syringe. "Now just hold still~!"

Peashy's eyes widened in terror at the sight of the syringe, and she scrambled to her feet. "AHHHH!" Peashy ran away from Compa. "No! Stay back! It's scary!"

"No! It'll make you feel better!" Compa claimed. "Just hold still!"

"No! Shots are scary!" Peashy stated as she ran from Compa.

"Uhhh..." We all watched as Compa chased Peashy around the living room with a giant syringe.

Neptune let out a sigh. "I guess this is to be expected. A child has three big fears after all. Shots, ghosts and eggplants..."

I turned to Neptune. "Why eggplants? Don't you mean onions?"

Neptune shook her head ferociously. "No! Eggplants are the Devil's food!"

I sighed. "Are you saying that I eat nothing but eggplants?"

"Exactly! Both you and Turtle!" Neptune claimed.

"Whatever," Hikan dashed towards Compa and swiped the syringe away from her. "Compa, I'm confiscating this away from you."

"Huh?" Compa stared at Hikan with confusion. "But why?"

"You're not ready for that yet," Neptune stated. "You can do it all you want when you grow up. Once you grow up, you can swing that thing however you like, just like my dimension's Compa."

Compa sighed. "Okay..."

"Wait, why did you even try to inject that syringe into Peashy?" I asked Compa.

"That's what the book said," Compa claimed.

I let out a sigh and turned to Neptune. "And this is the consequence of you not checking the contents of your gifts..."

"I said I was sorry, didn't I?" Neptune asked.

"Peeaashy...!" Plutia called after Peashy from her room.

"I'm coming, Ploot!" Peashy ran towards Plutia's room, making sure not to hit any walls. A second later, Plutia and Peashy came out of the room, with Peashy carrying her fixed stuffed animal. "Okay, Histy! I'm ready to nap!"

"Alright, Peashy,( ・ ̫・)" Mini-Histoire took Peashy's hand and they began heading towards Mini-Histoire's room. Before they could enter the room, Peashy stopped and turned to look over at all of us.

"What's wrong, P-Ko?" Neptune asked.

Peashy then formed a wide grin. "Neptuna, I love you all! Even you, Nepgear!"

And, as Peashy shouted those last words, we all watched as she waddled into Mini-Histoire's room with her, with the stuffed animal behind Peashy...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This chapter is done and will play an important role in the future. This chapter was extra long because I was thinking of how I wanted these events to be played out and I figured out a way for all the events to link together one after another. Also, starting next week, there will be four chapters uploaded every week again! Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	103. Chapter 103

Chapter 103

"Hiiiisty... We're hooome...!" Plutia announced.

"AHHHH!(((( ;°Д°))))" Mini-Histoire quickly floated towards us as we all entered the Basilicom. "There's an emergency! There's an emergency!"

Hikan cocked his head. "Another one?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Anotha one."

"Jokes aside..." Blanc turned to Mini-Histoire who was still in a panic. "What's wrong? What's the emergency?"

"There always seems to be emergencies here," Noire muttered.

"Is it the Seven Sages?" Vert asked.

Mini-Histoire shook her head. "N-No. It's a different type of emergency!( ﾟдﾟ)"

Plutia put a finger to her chin. "A different kind of emergency...?"

"U-Um, excuse me?" A voice called out.

"Hm?" I looked past Mini-Histoire to see a man standing close to Peashy. "Hey! Who are you!?"

"Yes, I was about to get to that,(⌣_⌣")" Mini-Histoire bowed her head and moved to the side to allow the others to see the man.

The man was pale skinned, he had shaggy brown hair and sea blue eyes. He wore a white, button up shirt, a pair of black dress pants with a black, leather belt and a pair of black loafers. Basically, he was dressed as the stereotypical anime character.

"Woah, that dude's handsome!" Neptune blurted out.

"He's soooo handsome...!" Plutia agreed.

"W-Why are you two saying he's handsome!?" Noire asked as her face reddened. "H-He's not that handsome!"

"I think your face says otherwise," Blanc stated.

"He's not that handsome..." Hikan muttered.

"U-Um... What is this handsome man here for, Histoire?" Nepgear asked.

"Daddy!" Peashy tugged on the man's arm. "Stop talking! I want to go and play!" Peashy whined.

"Y-Yes, I know," the man patted Peashy's head. "Just let me talk for a bit, okay?"

"Yeah! Don't you know it's rude to interrupt adults, P-Ko?" Neptune asked.

"So, what do you need, sir?" Nepgear's eyes widened. "W-Wait..."

I stared at the man. Something about his voice sounded so familiar. "Are you saying that you're Peashy's father?"

"Y-Yes," the man nodded timidly. "That is the case."

"WHAT!? This handsome, generic person can't be P-Ko's dad!" Neptune claimed.

"Nuh-uh! Daddy is Daddy!" Peashy argued.

I nodded at Neptune's statement. "Neptune is right in a way though," I looked towards the man. "How do we know that you're even her biological father? Do you even have any proof?"

"The truth is that there isn't much proof,(⌣_⌣)" Mini-Histoire said. "All he has to show is his identification card. Even then, all the information the card gives is that he was once a Planeptune citizen."

Vert shook her head and faced the man. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to go into further explanation."

The man nodded. "I do suppose that you all deserve an explanation."

He took a seat at the dining table, and we joined him. The man nodded. "I guess I'll start from the beginning..."

* * *

"...And I think that's it," the man said as he let out a sigh. "That's my story."

"I see..." I nodded as I let the man's words sink in.

"So, basically, you're saying that you couldn't take her in back then because you were having financial issues, right?" Noire asked.

The man nodded and looked over at Peashy. "Yes. Back then, her mother and I were having trouble with maintaining a stable life. We had heard the Basilicom had been starting an orphanage, and we decided to leave her there."

"It is true that Peashy did show up at the front door one day,（･_･）" Mini-Histoire stated.

I balled up a fist. "But why would you do that? Isn't she your own daughter?" I felt the rage beginning to bubble up inside of me.

The man continued nodding. "Like I said, we were very poor back then. After we left her with you all, we found jobs and, slowly, our lives became manageable."

"Then why did you come back for her?" Vert asked. "Why would you even leave your own daughter at a Basilicom in the first place only to come back?"

"It's just shameful," Noire stated.

"Hey! Don't talk about daddy like that!" Peashy barked as she bopped Noire on the head.

"O-Ow! Hey!" Noire backed away from Peashy.

"I do agree that it's a very shameful thing to do," the man agreed. "However, we thought she'd be happy at the Basilicom with the CPUs, and it seems that she has grown quite attached to you all."

Blanc sighed. "So that means you've come back to..."

The man also let out a sigh. "Yes. I've come to take Peashy home with me."

"WHAT!?" Neptune shouted out. "That ain't right! You can't do that!"

"Neptune, calm down," Noire advised.

"How can I calm down?!" Neptune questioned. "This handsome, old dude just comes in and claims to be P-Ko's father! Now he's asking to take her away!? I'm not having that!"

"Stop Neptuna! You're being dumb!" Peashy stated.

"How am I being dumb?! I'm saving you from this man!" Neptune claimed.

"No! He's my daddy!" Peashy stated.

"No, he's not! Quit lying to yourself P-Ko!" Neptune demanded.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen! I-It' her choice and I'll—"

*Thud!*

"EEK!" The man let out a squeal as I lifted him up by his collar and pressed him against a wall.

"Silver!? What are you doing?!" Nepgear asked.

"Hey! Put him down!" Noire demanded.

I shook my head and glared at him. My rage was at it's peak. "I don't know how you can live with yourself..." I snarled and tightened the grip on his collar.

"P-Please...stop!" The man pleaded.

I tossed him onto the floor. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" I roared.

"…" The man didn't respond. Instead, he stared at me with fearful eyes. "I-I..."

"YOU WHAT!?" I got up in his face. "YOU LEFT YOUR KID ALONE FOR SO MANY YEARS ONLY TO COME BACK TO TAKE THEM BACK! YOU DIDN'T EVEN SEEM THAT HAPPY TO SEE YOUR KID!"

"W-We're a busy family..." The man murmured through his quivering lips.

"WHAT KIND OF FAMILY IS TOO BUSY FOR THEIR OWN KID! YOU MAY HAVE BEEN IN POVERTY, BUT YOU COULD HAVE FOUND A WAY!" I tightened my fists. "BUT INSTEAD, YOU CHOSE TO LEAVE YOUR KID WITH COMPLETE STRANGERS! DID YOU EVER STOP TO CONSIDER WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED TO HER!? SHE COULD HAVE BEEN LEFT WITH BAD PEOPLE! YOU COULD HAVE POSSIBLY NEVER HAVE SEEN YOUR KID EVER AGAIN! ALL BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T CARE ENOUGH! DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW BADLY KIDS ON THE STREETS WISH FOR FAMILIES OR LOVE!? DO YOU!?"

"I-I..." The man could only stare into my eyes with terror.

I gritted my teeth. "People like you...should be rotting away..."

"Stoppit!" Peashy yelled.

As I turned to face her, Peashy shoved me away from the man. "Don't hurt my daddy! I hate you!" Peashy stuck her tongue out at me.

"…" As my rage subsided, I let out a sigh and walked back towards the others.

"I'm sorry for his behavior,（´＿｀）" Mini-Histoire apologized. "He...didn't live the best life."

The man shook his head and gave a slight smile. "No, it's fine. I completely understand."

I gritted my teeth at those words. "What would you know...?" I muttered. Before I could let my anger seep out again, I felt a hand squeeze mine. I turned to see who it was. It was Nepgear. As I stared into her face, slowly, I felt my anger subside.

"Back to what I was saying before," the man cleared his throat. "I wish to take Peashy back. However, it's not my choice to decide whether or not she stays. I would rather have her decide."

"That still isn't right!" Neptune shouted. "I won't accept it!"

"Neptune, stop acting so childish," Noire advised.

"No! I'm going with daddy!" Peashy stated.

"Wellll...at least take this with you..." Plutia suggested as she handed Peashy her stuffed animal.

"No! I don't want it!" Peashy swiped the stuffed animal away from Plutia and began to pull on it.

"Peashy! Don't pull on it like that!" Nepgear advised

*Riiip!*

But, as Nepgear uttered those words, Peashy tore the head off the stuffed animal and threw it to the side. "Ploot, you're dumb! I don't want it!

"AHHH...! She tore it up...!" Plutia stared at the headless stuffed animal in terror.

"P-Ko, you jerk! We worked really hard on that!" Neptune stated. "That's it! You're a dummy!"

"I don't care! I hate you too, Neptuna!" Peashy stuck her tongue out towards Neptune.

"Heeey...! Quit fiiighting...!" Plutia pleaded.

"I'm sorry! This is all my fault!" The man apologized.

"You know what!? You can go with this phony! I don't want to see you anymore anyways!" Neptune crossed her arms. "You'll see that I'm right!"

"You're a dummy, Neptuna! I don't ever want to play with you ever again!" Peashy stated.

"Well neither do I!" Neptune stuck out her tongue.

"…*sniffle*...I-I...don't like this..." Compa muttered.

"P-Please...*sniffle*….stop fighting..." IF pleaded.

"Heeey...! Stoop fighting...!" Plutia growled.

*Ching!*

* * *

I let out a sigh. "That...was disturbing..."

Noire shivered. "I didn't expect Plutia to just transform like that..."

Blanc nodded. "Y-yeah. What happened after she transformed wasn't pretty either..."

"Honesty, she becomes quite monstrous," Vert stated.

Hikan shivered. "I-I...don't want to remember..."

"But you guys weren't listening to me..." Plutia whined.

"P-Please stop talking about it," Nepgear pleaded. "You're going to further IF's trauma."

I looked over at IF. "Yeah... She won't last long if you keep transforming in front of her, Plutia."

"No more! Please, no more!" IF, who was in a fetal position, buried her head into her knees and sobbed.

"Iffy, please try to calm down. The big, scary Plu is gone now," Compa stated.

"Wahhhhhh!" IF continued to sob.

"More importantly..." I looked over at Neptune, who was sitting at the tea table with a bowed head. "Peashy is gone."

Mini-Histoire nodded. "Yes, Peashy has left, and we can't do anything to change that.(⌣_⌣)"

"I don't care anyways!" Neptune crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks. "P-Ko was a big idiot anyways!"

"Neptune..." Nepgear watched her sister.

"I'm gonna go take a nap..." Neptune announced as she walked to Plutia's room.

As the sound of Plutia's room door closing rang in the air, we all sat there in silence. "Peashy's really gone, isn't she?" Hikan asked.

"Yes, she is...(⌣_⌣)" Mini-Histoire bowed her head. "It's a shame, really. Neptune and Peashy were so close."

I nodded. "Yeah. She's probably taking it a lot harder right now."

"I hope Peashy will be alright..." Hikan said.

"It's what she wanted though," Noire stated. "We can't change that."

"…" Plutia stared at the headless stuffed animal of Peashy. "Peashy..."

I patted Plutia's head. "I'm sorry your creation was destroyed."

"Peashy said she loved it sooo much too..." Plutia stated.

I nodded. "I know..."

"I already miss Pea..." Compa murmured.

"I want Peashy to come back too..." IF stated.

I nodded. "Maybe she'll come back someday. I just hope she made the right decision to stay with that man."

And, for the rest of the day, we mourned Peashy's departure...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And here's another chapter done. I really don't have much to say this time. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	104. Chapter 104

Chapter 104

"So...tired..." Neptune crumpled to the floor as we entered the Basilicom. "Ugh..."

"Sooo tired..." Plutia fell right beside Neptune.

"Hey! Why are you two slacking off?!" Noire asked. "We're the ones helping you gather shares. Get up and stop being lazy!"

"You two really are hopeless," Blanc stated as she shook her head.

"I-I'm sorry!" Nepgear shook Plutia and Neptune. "Come on, you two! Get up!"

"What's the point?" Neptune questioned. "We're only slightly increasing our shares by doing all these quests everyday. Isn't there an easier way?"

I let out a sigh as we all took a seat on the couch. "For you and Plutia, no, it's not possible, Neptune."

Neptune let out a sigh and scanned the room. "It sure is quiet..."

Vert also let out a sigh. "I see you're not taking Peashy's departure well, are you?"

Neptune let out a sigh and dropped her head again.

"You two have to keep working,"( ´△｀)" Mini-Histoire advised. "If you don't, you'll start setting a bad example for the kids."

Vert stared at IF and Compa with a humored expression. "I'm not sure you'll need to set a good example..."

"What do you mean?" I looked over towards IF and Compa.

"See?" IF pointed towards Neptune and Plutia. "Those two are bad examples of adults, got it?"

Compa gave a nod. "Yes! Nep-Nep and Plu-Plu are both bad adults!"

"To think it's come to this...（´･△･｀）" Mini-Histoire let out a sigh. "They've even managed to teach themselves not to follow Neptune and Plutia's examples."

"Even kids know how bad of adults you two are," Hikan let out a sigh. "You two should be ashamed of that."

*Knock! Knock!*

"Hm? A visitor?(・・)" Mini-Histoire stared at the door with confusion. "Yes! Come in!"

"U-Um..." The door creaked open and Abnes waddled in.

Noire cast Abnes a dirty look. "Oh great. That girl's here again..."

"Hm? Why are you here?" I asked before letting out a sigh. "Are you going to accuse us of kidnapping again?"

"Hm?" Neptune lifted her head back up to see Abnes. "Hey! It's the little girl! Why's she here and why did she knock?"

Plutia also looked up at Abnes. "Huuuh...? No more 'Ga-Thunk'?"

"Hey! I-I can enter like a normal person too!" Abnes whined. "And...don't call me a little girl..."

"Before we get friendly and all, why are you here?" Blanc asked. "Here to cause us more trouble again or accuse us of kidnapping children?"

"N-No... It's actually quite the opposite..." Abnes stated.

"The opposite?" I stared at her in confusion.. "What do you mean?"

"W-Well...more kids have been kidnapped..." Abnes claimed.

"Yeah? And what do you want us to do about it?' Noire asked.

"I want you all to go and rescue them," Abnes stated.

"Huh? Why us?" I asked. "Don't you work for the Seven Sages? You should know that you all kidnapped the children in this room!"

"I didn't! I swear!" Abnes claimed. "That's why I've quit the Seven Sages and have come to you all! I know where the kids are at!"

"Huuuh...? Really...?" Plutia cocked her head.

"Just a minute," Vert interrupted Plutia. "How do we know that you're not lying to us?"

"Because, if I had, I wouldn't have even bothered coming over here!" Abnes said. "Now are you going to help me or not!?"

"I'm still not sure about this..." Noire stated. "I still can't allow myself to trust this girl yet."

"Please! I'm begging you all!" Abnes pleaded.

I shrugged. "Sure. I'll believe you."

"WHAT!?" The others stared at me with shocked looks.

"But why!? She could be tricking us for all we know! She can't be trusted!" Noire stated.

I smirked and looked over at Noire. "Noire, you're being too uptight," I said. "Everybody deserves a second chance, whether or not they have committed sins. No matter how horrible of a person they used to be, if they believe they can change, then I'll offer them a second chance. We're people. We can all change."

"…" Hikan smiled and nodded. "I guess I'll trust her too. She seems like she's telling the truth."

"Me too!" Nepgear agreed.

"If my Nepgear believes she can be trusted, then I shall as well," Vert stated.

"I trust Abnes toooo...!" Plutia agreed.

"If Plutia's going, I'll come," Blanc said.

"I guess. I got nothing to lose," Neptune said as she shrugged.

"Thank you all!" Abnes said.

I turned over to Noire, who had her arms crossed and cheeks puffed. "Well? What's it going to be, Noire?"

"I-I guess I'll go..." Noire muttered. "But it's not because I want to or anything! I-It's just to make sure you all don't do something stupid!"

I let out a chuckle. "Sure. I'm sure that's the reason."

"S-Shut up!" Noire shouted.

"Anyway," Blanc turned towards Abnes. "You said you knew where the kids are being held, right?"

Abnes nodded. "It's in a cave in Lowee. It's that place with all the lava or something."

Blanc nodded. "I know what you mean."

"Alright! Let's go, everyone!" Neptune commanded.

"Hold on," I turned towards IF and Compa. "You two, make sure this girl doesn't do anything funny, got it?"

The two girls nodded. "We'll do our best!"

"Do you really have that little faith in me!?" Abnes asked.

"You're still kind of not trusted," I said. "We're just making sure you really aren't planning anything."

"Hmph, fine!" Abnes crossed her arms. "But you better make sure that those kids come back safe and sound!"

I nodded and turned back to Neptune. "Okay. Now we can go!"

"Right!" Neptune nodded and we all stormed out of the Basilicom...

* * *

"So, this is where they're keeping the children, huh?" I questioned as we walked deeper into the cave. "It's not a bad base."

"I'm surprised I never actually knew about this place," Blanc stated. "It's so weird. I've never seen this place before."

"It makes sense. You did let that businessman basically run your country for you for a while," Noire stated. "Makes sense why you could never find it."

Blanc stared at Noire. "Keep talking and I'll knock your teeth in!"

"Enough, you two," Vert got in between them. "The two of you can argue later. For now, let's just focus on rescuing those children."

"Fine..." Blanc let out a huff and continued walking.

"Wow, this looks like one of those final boss stages," Neptune commented.

"It's soooo hot...!" Plutia whined.

We were deep inside a cave Blanc had found. It had led down, and, eventually, we came across a steel door. After we had knocked the door down, we had discovered that, in the depths of the cave, we were in one of the Seven Sages' bases. We were now so deep, that we were at the lava level.

"Uggh..." Neptune let out a sigh.

I looked over at her. "What's wrong, Neptune?"

"It's just that I feel bad for saying what I did to P-Ko..." Neptune stated. "It probably wasn't the best thing to say during a goodbye and all..."

"I'll say," Vert said. "You were being quite childish."

Hikan shrugged. "But that's how Neptune normally is."

"You're right. She's too stubborn to realize her mistakes," Noire claimed.

"Ha," Blanc snorted. "This is coming from you?"

"It's alright, Neppy...!" Plutia claimed. "The next time we see Peashy, you can apologize toooo her..!"

Neptune stared at Plutia with shock. "WHAT!? Who said anything about apologizing!? She should apologize for not believing me!"

I put a hand on Neptune's shoulder. "Neptune, you shouldn't say that. She's still a kid after all..."

Neptune slumped her shoulders and let out a sigh. "Yeah, I guess..."

"Can we change the topic?" Hikan asked. "How long are we going to have to walk before we reach the end of this cave!?"

I let out a sigh. "It has been a long walk. I will agree with you about that."

"Squeeaaak!"

"Huh?" We all stopped in our tracks as a cry from up ahead rang. Approaching us was one of Mr. Badd's "daughters".

Hikan shivered as he stared at the "daughter". "Ugh. It's one of those "creatures" again."

"Ewwww... It's still as yucky..." Nepgear hid behind my back and clung to my jacket.

"W-What is that thing? It's so disturbingly ugly," Noire stated.

"It's really ugly. Oh, I know," Blanc turned to Noire. "It must be related to you. It's probably a social outcast like you and has no friends."

"These were the things we fought in my nation," Vert stated. "It was absolutely horrifying."

"It's sooo gross..." Plutia also hid behind my back and clung to my jacket.

I let out a sigh. "You people, I swear..."

Noire shushed us. "Just don't say a wor—"

"AHHHH! IT'S SO YUCKY AND GROSS!" Neptune shrieked.

"SQUUEEAAKKK!" The creature let out a shriek and scurried back the way it came from.

I facepalmed. "Neptune, why did you do that?"

"I'm sorry! It was so hideous! Anyone would scream at how ugly it looked!" Neptune stated.

"It doesn't matter. This confirms that the Seven Sages are here," Noire stated.

Vert nodded. "Yes, let us hurry before they get away."

"Everyone, let's gooooo...!" Plutia commmanded.

And, at Plutia's words, we all chased after the creature.

* * *

"Um, guys?" Neptune turned back to us. "I think we lost it."

"Of course we did!" Noire stated. "Letting you lead was the worst idea! We took way too many detours!"

"Awww. But Noire, caves are all about exploration, y'know?" Neptune questioned.

"Actually, it doesn't matter that we lost them," I reassured Noire. I pointed ahead of us. "Look."

"Hm?" Noire looked over my shoulder and towards where I was pointing. "What about it? It's just another pathway to some part of this cave."

"You're missing the point, Noire," Hikan claimed. "It's the only pathway. Look behind us. There are multiple ways leading here. This is the only way forward."

I nodded. "That means we finally cornered them or it's a dead end."

Noire let out a sigh. "So either we were either duped or the girl was actually right, is that it?"

Vert nodded. "That's precisely the case."

"Then let's go," Blanc suggested.

We all ran through the pathway and came to a clearing with no pathways. "Well, we were somewhat right."

Standing in the middle of the clearing was Mr. Badd with all his "daughters". "Oh, there you all are. I've been expecting you."

"You knew we were coming? But how?!" Blanc asked.

"Simple. My daughters told me," Mr. Badd answered.

"Y-Your...daughters?!" Blanc stared at Mr. Badd with a confused look.

"I think he has finally lost it," Noire claimed.

"No, those things are his so-called daughters," Vert said as she pointed towards the creatures.

"I must ask. How did you all even find this place and why are you here?" Mr. Badd asked.

"We came here because Abnes said that you stole children and took them here!" Nepgear answered.

"I see... So that brat really has betrayed us," Mr. Badd let out a sigh.

"Just tell us where the kids are!" Vert demanded.

"Ha! Like I'd tell the likes of you all!" Mr. Badd clicked a button on his suit jacket and hopped into his mech. "I'll tell you if you can defeat me!"

"Ugh!" Neptune slumped over. "We've already fought this guy like two times! We even fought him about ten chapters ago! We also fought that old hag three times! I think we're really rehashing too much."

I let out a sigh. "I do agree with you. It is getting quite dull."

"Silence!" Mr. Badd barked. "We may be rehashing, but my stats have gone up! So let's hurry up and fight!"

"Let's just get this over with..." I activated Level Two, and we all materialized our weapons.

"Let's go!" I commanded.

*Bang!*

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This is the end of the chapter, of course. Starting next week, I'll start uploading four chapters a week again. If you aren't familiar with the four-chapter upload schedule, go on my page. The schedule and time is there. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	105. Chapter 105

Chapter 105

*Bang!*

Before anyone else could reach Mr. Badd, I lunged towards him first and thrusted my blade towards him. Instead of making contact to his mech, I was repelled back by an energy shield.

"Stop with your damn energy shields! This is why it's so boring to fight you!" I stated. "At least turn into a fat Iron Man or something! At least the battle was more exciting that way!"

"Oh? You want to see something new?" Mr. Badd began to laugh maniacally. "Oh, I'll show you something new! Just don't start crying when you can't win!"

"I'm not crying yet, so bring it on!" I taunted.

"Alright," Mr. Badd clicked a button on his suit jacket and the mech disappeared. Landing on the ground, Mr. Badd cracked his knuckles and smirked. "Alright. Give me your best shot!"

I stared at him blankly. "What are you up to?"

"You'll find out once you come for me," Mr. Badd claimed.

"Screw that!" I materialized a pair of throwing knives and threw them towards his neck.

*Clink! Clink!*

But instead of stabbing into his skin, the knives bounced off his skin and hit the ground.

"What the...?" I stared at Mr. Badd in shock.

"Bwahahaha!" Mr. Badd let out a loud laugh. "This was worth those billions of dollars!"

"You little..." I commanded the knives to explode.

*Boom! Boom!*

The knives detonated in Mr. Badd's face and caused some debris and smoke.

"Hey, I think you might've killed him, Silver," Hikan claimed.

I shook my head. "I only hope so..."

"Please don't tell me that's the best you can do, boy," Mr. Badd's voice asked. The smoke cleared and Mr. Badd stood there, unscathed. "Because that would be a real shame!"

"What is he...?" Hikan asked.

"Perhaps we should all transform and fight him seriously, yes?" Vert suggested.

Neptune nodded. "Yeah! Let's blow this guy back to the retirement home!"

*Ching!*

The CPUs went into their HDD forms and took stances by my side. "You're dead, old man!" I claimed.

Mr. Badd let out a sigh. "If only you had let me fight in that mech, this would have been a clean battle. But, now, this is going to turn into a bloodbath."

"Shut the hell up!" I shouted.

*Bang!* *Clang!* *Crash!*

We all charged towards Mr. Badd and slammed our weapons at his face. However, upon making contact with him, his glasses were knocked off, and Mr. Badd took the hit as if nothing had even touched him.

"Is that all?" Mr. Badd sighed. "Shame. I was really hoping for something more exciting..."

We jumped back as Mr. Badd popped his neck. "He wasn't this hard to damage when we tortured him on live TV before," Blanc stated. "What did he do to himself?"

I turned to Hikan. "You want to use that move you always use?"

Hikan let out a sigh. "I guess it's worth a shot."

"Whatever you all are planning, it won't work!" Mr. Badd claimed. "I'm fucking invincible!"

"That's what you say now!" Hikan said.

*Bang!* *Fsh! Fsh!* *Fwmph!* *Hssshhhh!* *Crash!* *Fwhssshh!*

Hikan flew above Mr. Badd and blasted flames down around Mr. Badd, creating a ring of fire. As Hikan's blade burst into flames, the ring of fire was absorbed into the flames, and the flames took the shape of a Phoenix. I then created an energy shield around us before Hikan brought his blade down on Mr. Badd, creating an explosion of flames.

"…"

Once the flames had disappeared, I let the shield disappear. Standing at the center of Hikan's strike, was Mr. Badd, still unscathed, and looking bored.

"N-No way.." Hikan stared at Mr. Badd in horror.

Mr. Badd let out a laugh. "I will say this. Your flames did give me a bit of a tan. I will thank you for that."

"What the hell..." Hikan gritted his teeth. "WHY THE HELL CAN'T WE HURT YOU!?"

*Crack!*

Hikan threw a punch right towards Mr. Badd's face and forced his face to jerk to the right. But, as the punch hit him, Mr. Badd slowly moved his face back to where it had been, as if nothing had happened.

"That didn't even hurt," Mr. Badd formed a wide grin. "You ready to see a real punch, kid?"

*Crack!* *BOOM!* *Crash!* *Ching!*

Suddenly, Mr. Badd swung his fist towards Hikan's face and sent him crashing into the ground. Before Hikan could recover from the blow, Mr. Badd kicked Hikan towards us, and Hikan landed right at our feet. As Hikan let out a breath, he was kicked out of his HDD form and was back in his normal form.

I stared back up at Mr. Badd. "Just two blows..." I gritted my teeth. "Damnit!"

"I'll give you all credit for the fact that you all aren't cowering in fair yet," Mr. Badd said. "Maybe I'll tell you why you can't beat me if you can land a single hit on me."

"Consider that done!" I shouted.

*Bang!*

While Hikan remained on the ground, the rest of us lunged towards Mr. Badd. Blanc and Vert swung from the side, Neptune and Nepgear came in from behind, while Plutia and I went for a frontal assault, and Noire came from above.

Before Blanc and Vert's weapons could make contact with Mr. Badd, he quickly grabbed them both by their wrists and twisted them, making the two girls fall to the ground. Mr. Badd then pulled on their weapons and threw the spear and axe towards Neptune and Nepgear, sending them crashing into a wall, causing the two of them to revert back to their normal forms. Before Noire's blade could touch Mr. Badd, he grabbed Noire by her wrist and flung her towards the same wall as Neptune and Nepgear, causing Noire to also revert back to her normal form. He then kicked Vert and Blanc towards Plutia and I, causing the two CPUs to revert back to their normal forms. Plutia and I then jumped out of the way, only to be met by Mr. Badd's face.

Before either of us could react, Mr. Badd slammed his fists into our guts, and we both crumpled to the ground, causing Plutia to revert back to her normal form. Mr. Badd then kicked Plutia away, and, before he could kick me, I slowed down time. I then swung and connected a fist with Mr. Badd's face just before time resumed.

But, as my fist made contact with Mr. Badd, I was kicked away and crashed into the ground.

"Well, I'm impressed that you managed to land a punch on me," Mr. Badd stated as he touched the part I scathed. "So I'll tell you my little secret."

I forced myself back to my feet and looked around to see the others lying unconscious. I crumpled back to the ground. "T-Tell me...you bitch!" I spat out.

Mr. Badd grinned and tore off his suit jacket. My eyes widened at what I saw. Besides his fat, in the center of his chest was a metallic item beating at where his heart was and wrapping around his skin, making it veiny. It had looked like a metal virus had taken control of his heart and was visible to see.

"What the hell is that!?" I roared.

Mr. Badd formed a wide grin. "Nanomachines son!"

"Nanomachines?" I stared at Mr. Badd's metal heart. "Is that why your heart is wrapped with that metal thing?"

"That's right," Mr. Badd nodded as he allowed the machine to wrap around his skin. "Think of Nanomachines as a kind of superhuman steroid. Cost me billions of dollars!"

"I...don't care what you injected into your fat ass!" I barked as I pulled my broken body back up. "I-I'll...save those kids!"

Mr. Badd let out a chuckle. "Guts will get you nowhere in this battle, kid!"

"Fuck you!" I shouted through my ragged breaths. I looked over at Nepgear, who was lying unconscious. "I...promised I'd...protect you..."

"C'mon! Hit me with your best shot!" Mr. Badd taunted.

"I'll fuck you up!" I claimed as I felt my conscious being replaced by the Devils' conscious.

* * *

 **Third Person POV**

 **"I'll end your life!"** Silver claimed as the Devils took control of his body, and the cloak of energy enveloped him. Silver then materialized a blade. **"I'll end you right here and now!"**

"Come at me!" Mr. Badd charged towards Silver.

*Tmp!* *Clang!*

As Mr. Badd threw a punch towards Silver's face, Silver quickly stepped out of the way and, enveloping his blade in energy, cut at Mr. Badd's arm. Before Silver could slice off Mr. Badd's arm, Mr. Badd quickly swept at Silver's feet, causing Silver to stop the attack and jump. As soon as he jumped, Mr. Badd grabbed Silver and threw him towards a wall.

Before Silver crashed into the wall, he caught himself and bounced off the wall, throwing his blade towards Mr. Badd. As Mr. Badd knocked the blade away, he was met by a barrage of throwing knives.

*Boom! Boom! Boom!* *Crack!* *Thud!* *Clink!*

Jumping back, Mr. Badd got out of the knives' explosive range as they blew up, creating debris and smoke. Once the smoke had blinded Mr. Badd's vision, Silver materialized a dagger and punched Mr. Badd to the ground. As Silver brought the dagger down on Mr. Badd, Mr. Badd kicked at Silver's gut, knocking him away and causing him to drop the dagger.

*Crash!* *Boom!*

Mr. Badd instantly grabbed the dagger and slammed Silver's head into the ground, splattering blood. Mr. Badd then brought the dagger down on Silver. But, before the dagger could stab itself into Silver's skin, Silver detonated it and blew Mr. Badd back. As Mr. Badd stumbled back, Silver materialized another blade and slowed down time.

 **"Die!"**

*Shk! Shk!* *Chk!* *Sk!* *Slash!* *Clang!* *Ksh!* *Vrrrrnnnnnn!* *Hssssshhhh!*

Silver then quickly charged towards Mr. Badd and stabbed his blade through the Nanomachine. Quickly pulling his blade out, Silver began to slice away at the Nanomachine, cutting it, along with Mr. Badd's heart, into thousands of bits. After cutting away at the Nanomachines, Silver formed a ball of energy and rammed it into the Nanomachines, creating an explosion of energy as time resumed.

As time resumed, Silver was blown back, and Mr. Badd was enveloped by the explosion."GRAHHHHH!"

 **"Heh... Take that...you...bitch..."** Silver coughed out the words as he felt his normal conscious returning to him...

* * *

 **Silver's POV**

"Haaa...haaaa..." As I rose back to my feet, I felt the pain burn through my body, causing me to fall down to one knee. "D-Damn it..."

I forced myself back up and dragged myself back towards Mr. Badd. He still had no shirt on, exposing his fat belly. However, his heart and the Nanomachines were no longer there. They had been vaporized.

I let out a sigh. "You two...went overboard..." I muttered.

 **"What'd you expect? You asked us to fight."**

I let out a sigh. "I guess." I put a hand to Mr. Badd's head. His temperature was cold. "Shit. I might still be able to heal him."

I quickly put a hand at the hole in Mr. Badd's thorax and began pulsing out energy. As the hole was engulfed by the red energy, the hole began to heal, along with his heart. After the body healed itself, I put a hand to his heart and felt the beating heart. I smiled and let out a sigh. "That was too close."

I turned towards the others, who were still unconscious. "I guess I should probably heal them all too..."

* * *

"Nngh..." Mr. Badd's eyes began to flutter open as his "daughters" nudged at him

"Hey! Wake up, you fat bitch!" Blanc yelled as she shook Mr. Badd.

"Blanc, take a chill pill," Neptune advised. "He just knocked you out in a few hits. I don't think you should be saying that..."

"Rrgh.." Blanc dropped Mr. Badd down to the ground as Mr. Badd's eyes slowly opened.

"What the?" Mr. Badd sat upright and looked at himself. "I-I'm...alive? But how? If my Nanomachines are gone, so should my heart..."

"That's because I replaced your heart," I stated. "That's why you're still alive and breathing."

"Thank you..." Mr. Badd let out a sigh. "I guess you'd like to know where the children are, right?"

I nodded. "Tell us."

Mr. Badd nodded and patted one of his "daughters'" heads. "Well, they're actually right here."

I blinked at his words. "...What!?"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And this chapter is done! I hope you all liked this chapter. Yes, Nanomachines son! If you know what I'm referencing, you know what game I'm talking about and how cool it is! Also, four chapters a week have returned. So expect one more chapter every week! Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	106. Chapter 106

Chapter 106

"The children are right here," Mr. Badd stated.

I blinked at his statement. "...What?"

"Hey! Quit fooling around! That's my job!" Neptune stated. "Tell us where the kids are RIGHT NOW!"

Mr. Badd stood up and glared at Neptune. "I told you, didn't I!? They're RIGHT HERE!"

"The only things here are my party, your so-called daughters and you!" Neptune stated. "There aren't any children here at all!"

"Maybe you screwed up his memory when you destroyed his heart," Blanc suggested as she glanced over at me.

"That makes no sense. Damaging his heart shouldn't affect his memory!" I stated.

"If he won't tell us, maybe we'll have to kill one of his so-called daughters to get him to talk..." Noire suggested.

Hikan and I shivered at the thought. "Noire, you need to chill," Hikan advised.

"Wooow Noire...!" Plutia stared at Noire with an open mouth. "You said something reeaally evil...!"

"You wouldn't dare do something so inhumane!" Mr. Badd claimed. "Especially since these are the kids you came all this way to save! Would you really just kill them?!"

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "Huh. Maybe I somehow did damage his brain from destroying his heart..."

"What are you saying?!" Noire asked Mr. Badd. "Stop speaking gibberish!"

"I also don't understand what you're implying," Vert agreed.

"Neither do I." Blanc turned to Hikan and I. "Do you two understand what this fool is talking about?"

Hikan and I shook our heads. "Not a clue."

Mr. Badd began to laugh manically. "You wouldn't dare to do something so inhumane, would you? After all, all of you, except one, are CPUs!"

"What the hell are you implying?!" I roared.

"Ha...hahaha! HAHAHAHA!" Mr. Badd's laughing grew louder as he looked over at his "daughters". "You all became CPUs, right? Don't you remember the risk you took?"

"What are you talking about...?" Nepgear asked.

"I think he really did go crazy," Hikan claimed.

"You bastard!" I gritted my teeth and balled up a fist. "Did you really do something so insane!?"

"Oh, I did," Mr. Badd nodded and smirked.

"Silver, what is it?" Nepgear asked.

"You don't know?!" Mr. Badd let out another laugh. "You all should know the best! If somebody fails to meet the requirements to become CPUs, they will become hideous monsters!"

The CPUs let out gasps. "You bastard! You don't mean that you..." Blanc gritted her teeth.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Mr. Badd's laughter grew louder. "That's right!"

"Then..." Nepgear stared at the creatures in horror. "These creature...used to be..."

"You bastard!" Hikan shouted. "How could you call them your children!? You kidnapped them and forced them to become like this!"

"I've seen some pretty cruel events before, but this is by far the worst!" Vert stated.

"Umm... Hey, Silvy...?" Plutia tugged on my sleeve. "Why is everyone acting sooo serious...?"

"Yeah, tell us. I kinda wasn't paying attention," Neptune admitted.

"Neptune... these creatures ARE the children!" Nepgear stated.

"Oh..." Neptune's eyes widened. "SAY WHAT!?"

"They were forced to use CPU Memories by this asshole right here, turning them all into these hideous monsters!" I explained.

"You bitch..." Blanc balled up a fist as a white light enveloped her.

*Ching!*

"I'll smash you to pieces!" Blanc roared as she completed her HDD transformation.

"Oh, will you now?" Mr. Badd let out a chuckle.

"Squuueeeaak!" The creatures stepped in Blanc's way.

"What the hell!? Get out of my way!" Blanc barked.

"You can't attack me, can you?" Mr. Badd questioned. "Now that you know that these monsters are actually children, you can't lay a hand on them! But they can still harm you!"

"Rrgh...!" Blanc gritted her teeth.

"You know what the best part about all of this was?" Mr. Badd chuckled. "You've been harming these children this whole time! With your spears, blades and hammers!"

"You...little pig...!" Plutia muttered the words as a shadow was cast over her face and a cold aura radiated from her.

"Crap," Neptune tensed up. "Everyone, we have to get out of here before Plutie transforms!"

"Why the hell are we running again!?" Blanc asked. "That's all we seem to be doing nowadays!"

"It's not a choice. We have to go," I stated.

"Just grab Plutie and let's get out before she transforms!" Neptune commanded.

"Fine!" Blanc scooped up Plutia and we all ran out of the cave.

"Put me down riiight now, Blanny!" Plutia demanded.

"Yes! Run away, CPUs!" Mr. Badd shouted.

* * *

"Alright... I think we made it out," Neptune looked back over at Blanc. "Did Plutie transform?"

"N-No..." Blanc tossed Plutia to the ground and let out a sigh. "Good thing she didn't transform while we were running..."

"At least we avoided her rampage," Hikan stated.

I shook my head. "I don't think we did..."

"Neppy..." Plutia picked herself off the ground and glared towards Neptune.

*Ching!*

"Why did you stop me!?" Plutia roared as she transformed into her HDD self. "Did you not hear what that fat pig said!?"

Neptune gulped. "Oh no. I think Sadie is in her super pissy-pants mode right now..."

"Oh, you better believe I'm pissed!" Plutia shouted. "Since I can't take my anger out on that pig, maybe I'll have to use one of you!"

"Good luck, Noire!" Vert cheered as she patted Noire's back and pushed her up towards Plutia.

"H-Hey! Why me!?" Noire asked.

"Oh, Noire..." Plutia formed a devilish grin. "Normally, I'd hold back on you. But since I'm really mad today, I won't go easy on you! You'll have to accept all of my rage!"

"U-Um..." Noire stared at Plutia in horror as she backed up while Plutia inched closer to her. "W-Wait...!"

"No more waiting..." Plutia stated as she cracked her whip. "There's no escape!"

"Wait! Look behind you!" Noire said.

"Do you really think I'd fall for such a childish trick?" Plutia asked as she inched closer towards Noire. "Sorry, but playtime's ove—"

*Crash!*

Before Plutia could finish speaking, a yellow light blinded us and left a small crater right beside Plutia. "Who just did that!?"

"That felt so strong.." I muttered as I stared at crater. "Who did that?"

"Show yourself right now!" Plutia demanded.

"Man, you guys are all fast!" A voice stated as it let out a giggle. "Hold on! I'll land in a second!"

"Hey," I pulled Nepgear out of the way as a shadow loomed over Noire. "Stay by me for a second..."

"Wait..." Noire squinted her eyes at us as we all scooted away from her. "This feeling... It's like those times when Neptune and Nepgear landed on m—"

*Thud!*

Before Noire could finish speaking, a girl landed on top of her and stomped Noire to the ground.

"Oh, Noire! You'll always be our trusted landing pad!" Neptune stated with a salute.

"Wait! That form!" Blanc stared at the girl with shock.

Hikan nodded. "It's almost like a CPU's HDD form."

I took a look at the girl for a second.

The girl had fair skin, cream orange eyes and lemon yellow hair. She wore a strapless, swimsuit-like one-piece attire. It had a primary color of white with a secondary color of navy blue and red highlights. She wore a pair of matching-colored, elbow-length gloves with a pair of tiger-like yellow claws equipped above her hands. She also wore a pair of matching-colored, knee-high boots, a white choker piece and a circular white piece holding up her hair. Also, her bosom was bigger than Vert's.

"I must admit, she does look like a CPU," Vert admitted.

"Hey! Get off of me!" Noire demanded as she popped her head out of the ground.

"Ah! A mole!" The girl hopped away and allowed Noire to get back to her feet. "I'm sorry, Ms. Mole!"

"I'm not a mole!" Noire shouted.

"Excuse me, but can you tell me what that was?" Plutia asked with her most friendliest smile as her eyebrow twitched.

"Woah, her eyebrow is twitching, and she's smiling so happily!" Neptune shivered. "Those two things just don't mix..."

"Me?" The girl pointed towards her face. "I'm Yellow Heart! It's nice to meet you!"

"That's great and all..." Plutia gritted her teeth as her head began to twitch. "But can you answer my question?"

"Hurry and answer the question!" Nepgear shouted towards the girl.

"Oh! Actually, it's not nice to meet you all," Yellow Heart scratched her head. "That was actually supposed to be a sneak attack! Mommy and daddy sent me here to beat you all up!"

"Really?" Plutia stopped twitching but continued smiling. "You're such a good girl for listening to your mommy and daddy..."

"Really!?" Yellow Heart's eyes gleamed.

"However..." Plutia cracked her whip. "I need to take out my rage on someone, and I guess you'll have to do. After all, you are here to defeat us after all..."

"Oh brother..." I let out a sigh and materialized my blade.

*Ching!*

Neptune let out a sigh as she, Hikan, Noire and Nepgear all transformed. "I don't think we should be doing this, Plutia," Neptune stated. She turned towards Blanc and Vert. "Don't you two agre—"

"S-She's just showing them off!" Blanc muttered as she stared at Yellow Heart's chest in horror. "I-I can do that too!"

"T-They're so big..." Vert sniffled. "So this is how those other women felt when they gazed upon my chest..."

I let out a sigh. "And, instead of fighting, you two choose to be shocked over her boobs..."

"I'll rid this world of those monstrousities!" Blanc stated.

"I-I...have to secure my place as number one..." Vert muttered.

*Ching!*

I let out a sigh and activated Level Two. "This isn't right..."

"Oh, I'll enjoy beating the smile off your face," Plutia stated as she cracked her whip once again.

"I won't lose either!" Yellow Heart stated. "I promised mommy and daddy I'd come home with a win!"

"That's great and all, but, unfortunately, it's not going to happen," Plutia claimed. "I'll beat you into submission!"

*Bang!* *Clang!* *Cling!* *Thud!*

Materializing our weapons, we all charged towards Yellow Heart as she stood there. Hikan and I increased our speed and slashed towards her. Before we could make contact with her face, Yellow Heart quickly swatted our blades away with one of her claws and, as we fell, used the other claw to swing towards us. Before the claw hit us or I fell to the ground, I caught myself with my hands and kicked the other claw away, sending Yellow Heart stumbling back.

*Clang!* *Crash!* *Vrrrrp!* *Thud!*

As Hikan and I landed on the ground, Noire zoomed towards Yellow Heart and performed an uppercut slash at her. Yellow Heart quickly recovered her balance and kicked away Noire's blade before throwing a punch towards Noire's face, sending her crashing into the ground. As Yellow Heart got ready to kick Noire away, Plutia's whip blade coiled around Yellow Heart's ankle, and Plutia pulled Yellow Heart towards her, kicking Yellow Heart in her gut as she neared Plutia's feet.

*Bang!* *Thud!* *Vrrn!* *Bang!* *Ding!* *BOOM!*

Before Plutia could kick at Yellow Heart again, Yellow Heart used her claw to break free from the whip blade and swept at Plutia's feet, sending her falling to the ground. As Yellow Heart got back to her feet, Nepgear shot a laser beam towards Yellow Heart. Charging towards Nepgear, Yellow Heart knocked the beam away and, after a blinding light, had passed Nepgear, leaving an explosion at Nepgear's position and blowing her up.

Before Yellow Heart could recover from her stance, Neptune slid in behind her and slashed at her back. Yellow Heart jumped away from the strike only to touch my hand, which was emitting energy.

"Goodbye..." I muttered as Yellow Heart looked down at my hand.

*VRRRN!* *KSH! KSH! KSHHH!* *CRASH!*

As Yellow Heart stared at my hand, I pulsed out a blast of energy that hit her gut. Flying backwards, Yellow Heart began to struggle against the blast and push against it. While I struggled to keep Yellow Heart from returning my blast, Blanc rushed in from the side and slammed her axe against Yellow Heart, crashing her into the ground.

"This is your end!" Vert shouted

*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!* *BOOM!* *FSH! FSH! FSH!* *FWWSHHHHH!*

Before my blast could reach Yellow Heart, Vert materialized several spears and shot them all towards Yellow Heart, sinking her deeper into the ground along with creating debris. Getting up, Yellow Heart was met by my blast of energy. As the blast made contact and blew up, Hikan quickly shot multiple blasts of fire towards Yellow Heart, and the area around her erupted into flames.

"Haaa... D-Did we get her?" Hikan asked.

I shook my head. "I-I'm not sure..."

"S-She certainly was a tough opponent..." Neptune stated.

"Y-Yes! Now I...can finally secure my top spot!" Vert cheered.

"T-That...thing is finally gone..." Blanc formed a wide grin.

"Wow! You guys are so strong!" Yellow Heart's voice called out.

"What the!?" We all spun back to Yellow Heart's last-known location. Emerging from the flames was Yellow Heart, partially burnt and bruised.

"Vert! I thought you struck her with full force!" Blanc stated as she turned to Vert.

"Of course I did! I struck her with blows with the intentions of ridding her from this world!" Vert stated.

"After all that, she's still in such good condition..." Hikan muttered.

"Hey, does that mean I can use my full power too since you all used yours?" Yellow Heart asked.

"Y-You don't mean..." I gritted my teeth. "Shit!"

"S-She's just bluffing! T-There's no way she could get any stronger!" Noire claimed.

"Alright!" Yellow Heart cupped her hands and formed a yellow ball of energy. The energy then cloaked her body. "It's time to win!"

"Everyone! Get near me now!" I roared as Yellow Heart's energy cloak blew up.

"BOOM!"

*VRNNNNNNN!* *BOOOOM!*

"H-Huh? Where did they go?" Yellow Heart asked as the explosion's light faded away. "I guess I won! Mommy and daddy will be so happy! I guess I'll return home now!"

*Bang!*

"AGGGGHHHHHH!" I let out a loud scream of pain as Yellow Heart flew away. I looked at my non-existent arm slowing healing itself. "I-I'm...so glad that I can heal myself..."

I stared at the others. "Y-You guys still alive?"

"Y-Yeah... I-I'm fine..." Neptune called out weakly.

"S-She...was so strong..." Noire coughed out.

"We lost...sooo badly..." Plutia stated.

I nodded. "Yeah," I stared at where my energy shield had been. "She not only kicked you guys out of HDD but also destroyed my shield..."

"I-I...think it's best if we head home..." Hikan suggested.

I nodded. "Y-Yeah, sure..."

* * *

"H-Histy...w-we're hooome..." Plutia coughed out.

"Everyone! It's an emergency! It's an emergency!(((( ;°Д°))))" Mini-histoire claimed as we all entered the Basilicom.

"Mini-Histy... We just had a really bad day... Can't this wait?" Neptune asked. "You always say there's an emergency anyways..."

"Hey! Shut up and look at the TV!" Abnes barked as she pointed towards the TV screen.

"The TV?" I looked towards the TV screen to see it turned to the news channel. "Ugh, the news..."

"Every channel is the same," IF stated as she flipped through the channels.

"I don't like this show," Compa whined.

"Wait," I turned to Neptune, Nepgear and Hikan. "Guys! Look who's on the TV!"

"Huh?" Nepgear dragged herself towards me and glanced at the TV screen. "T-That's...!"

Hikan nodded. "Yeah. Rei Ryghts. The leader of the Citizens Group."

"I remember that lady!" Neptune stated. "She was all shy and crap, so why's she here?"

I shrugged. "Beats me. Let's just hear what she has to say."

"H-Hello, G-Gamindustri," Rei greeted as she gulped. "I-I'm the head r-representatives for the Seven Sages, R-Rei Ryghts!"

"She's the head?" Noire stared at the TV with a questionable look.

"O-Our original goal was to create a world without C-CPUs a-and live a peashfurl wife," Rei slurred out.

"You messed up the line a bit, but it's fine," Anonydeath's voice called out. "Just finish strongly!"

"B-But we've decided to recruit our own C-CPU!" Rei shouted.

"She's not really good with this live publicity thing, is she?" Vert wondered.

"I just want to know who this new CPU is," Blanc said.

"I have a few ideas," I said.

"W-We've decided to recruit Lady Yellow Heart and place our faith in her!" Rei stated as her face began to redden.

"I called it!" I shouted as Yellow Heart appeared onto the TV screen.

"Hi everyone! I'm Yellow Heart!" Yellow Heart greeted as she waved towards the TV screen.

"F-Following Lady Yellow Heart, w-we've decided to form a nation and name it Eden!" Rei announced.

"Formation!" Yellow Heart shouted.

I let out a groan and dropped my head into my hands. "We're so screwed..."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And there is the chapter done! There probably won't be filler for a while because I want to try to hurry and get this arc wrapped up as soon as possible. Also, I don't want the story to go on for too long. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	107. Chapter 107

Chapter 107

After the announcement of the new nation, Eden, along with Yellow Heart being announced as their CPU, things just kind of went downhill from there. Right after Eden's announcement, it began to gain a lot of attention. This caused Eden to instantly gain many shares, causing the rest of us to lose a huge quantity of our shares.

While we were losing shares, the Seven Sages were still conducting their evil plans behind the scenes. However, everytime we tried to go stop them, either Yellow Heart or Mr. Badd's creatures, which I figured out were called Babybugs, would come and stop us. After news spread of us failing to stop the Seven Sages, we would lose an even greater sum of shares. It was a vicious, never-ending cycle. A cycle that went on for ten years.

Everytime, we would gather at Planeptune's Basilicom to discuss plans. Usually, it always ended with us having no real plan to take down the Seven Sages.

I let out a sigh. "So why are we over here this time?" I asked Neptune as I looked around Lowee's Basilicom.

"I figured we'd all gather over here instead of at Planeptune's Basilicom!" Neptune explained.

"It's sooooo boring always napping in the Planeptune living room..." Plutia added.

"You shouldn't even be napping," I stated.

"So, is that why we all gathered over here?" Hikan asked.

"I don't like this," Blanc stated. "You all are going to trash my Basilicom."

"Don't worry Blanc," Hikan reassured her. "We'll makes sure your Basilicom at least survives."

"But, seriously, guys?" Neptune let out a sigh. "It's been tens years. How come none of us have changed at all? We didn't even buy new clothes or anything!"

"I guess you're right..." Nepgear muttered as she looked over at me. "None of us really did change our appearances, did we?"

"Well, to be fair, we are all CPUs," Noire stated.

"At least Compa and IF grew up!" Nepgear pointed out. "Now, they're full-fledged adults!"

"I guess that's something," Neptune admitted as she rested her head on the palms of her hands.

"That is true," Vert stared at me. "However, my question is how can you still maintain your young appearance? You're no CPU."

I let out a chuckle. "That's true. However, I do have the powers of two Devils. I can heal myself like how I heal my body. It works the same with my age."

"Wait, how old were you when Nep Jr. found you at the orphanage?" Neptune asked.

"First of all, she found me in an alleyway," I thought for a second. "Hm... I guess I was around sixteen."

"Sixteen!?" Nepgear stared at me with wide eyes.

I nodded. "Sixteen or seventeen."

"Well, how old would you be now?" Hikan asked.

I put a finger to my chin. "I don't know... I guess, if I had continued to age, I'd probably be around thirty-something years old..."

"So, if you hadn't kept maintaining your age, you'd be in your thirties?" Vert asked. As I nodded, Vert let out a sigh. "I wish I possessed such an ability..."

"So what age are you at right now then?" Blanc asked.

"I think I'm at seventeen..." I claimed.

"Ahem," Noire cleared her throat in a loud manner to catch our attention. "Hey, shouldn't we all be having a serious discussion?"

"Oh, sorry," Hikan apologized. "Let's get down to bui—"

"Lady Blanc! My special blend of green tea is ready!" A familiar voice boomed.

"Wait, that voice..." Hikan turned towards the door as it opened. Standing there, was Copypaste, holding a tea tray full of cups and a pot of tea. "Hey! It's Copypaste!"

"Hello, dear friend!" Copypaste greeted Hikan as he set the tea tray down in front of us.

"That's the Seven Sages robot!" Noire shouted. "Why is he here!?"

"Yes, I'd like to know as well," Vert agreed.

"Well, all Japanese-style castles need a tea-making robot," Blanc claimed. "So, we turned him into one."

"I bet those guys down at the mine are happy," Nepgear said.

Blanc nodded. "They're actually part of the reason we rebuilt him..."

"But aren't you worried that he'll blow up Lowee with his lasers and missiles and stuff?" Neptune asked.

"Ooooh... That would look soooo pretty...!" Plutia added.

Blanc shrugged. "I don't mind. If that happens again, I'll just rip him to shreds again."

"Do you all really have that little faith in me!?" Copypaste let out a sniffle. "I would never do such a terrible thing to Lady Blanc, who saved me from my demise! I am forever loyal to her!"

"Ehehehe..." Plutia lunged towards Blanc and hugged her tightly.

"H-Hey! Why the hell are you hugging me!?" Blanc asked as she squirmed to get away from Plutia's grip.

"Blanny is soooo nice...!" Plutia stated as she rubbed her cheek against Blanc's back.

"I-I'm not nice, damnit!" Blanc protested. "So let go of me!"

"Excuse me," Nepgear's eyes began to sparkle as she poked at Blanc's hat. "Can I take Copypaste apart?"

Blanc shrugged. "Huh? U-Um...I don't mind. You just have to ask him."

"W-What!?" Copypaste stared at Nepgear with a frightened look as Nepgear inched closer towards Copypaste.

"May I please dismantle you for fun?" Nepgear asked as she got to her knees and began to beg. "I'll even settle for dismantling your head!"

"No way, squirt!" Copypaste furiously shook his head. "I can't allow that!"

"Pretty please with sprinkles on top!" Nepgear begged.

"Nepgear, I can buy you something to take apart later," I said. "Now's not the time."

Nepgear turned her head back to me. "B-But..."

"Listen, I'm only going to say this once more," Noire glared at all of us. "We're here to have a serious discussion. So we're either going to talk seriously or I'm going to make you all regret it!"

Nepgear shriveled up at Noire's words. "I-I'm sorry! I'll be serious now!"

"Geez, why do you always have to be so super serious Noire?" Neptune asked. "Times like these are when we should be lightening up the mood or whatever!"

"Plus, there isn't much to discuss," Vert stated. "All we do is occasionally get together and discuss our losses."

"To be fair, we can't really do anything with that CPU of theirs and that old dude's disgusting little creatures!" Neptune stated.

"All we've been able to do is run from them," Nepgear pointed out.

"It's soooo unfair...!" Plutia whined. "They're cheating...!"

"Yeah, that CPU of theirs is insanely powerful," Hikan stated. "Everytime, she manages to defeat the eight of us!"

"How is that even possible!?" Noire questioned. "How can seven CPUs and a guy with two Devils in him not defeat one, single CPU!?"

"That's what I'd like to know," I agreed. "Even when I let my Devils fight at full power, they only lasted about seven minutes against her..."

Nepgear let out a sigh and rubbed my back. "Don't remind me. It was so horrifying to watch her beat you up..."

"Yeah," Hikan nodded. "You took a whole month to recover enough strength to even move."

"I've been telling you guys! It's got to be a cheat code or something!" Neptune suggested. "She must have opened up the console and entered in God Mode!"

"No, that can't be it," Hikan stated. "This is a story with words. There isn't even a console to enter in commands."

"Then think and tell me what it could be!" Noire shouted. "Because I'm tired of losing and constantly lose shares!"

"Everytime I think, nothing happens at allll..." Plutia stated.

"I guess I'll take my leave," Copypaste spoke up.

"Alright," Blanc nodded and smiled at Copypaste. "You did alright. You're dismissed."

As Copypaste exited the room, I let out a sigh. "Well, I've never met a CPU that powerful before nor have I encountered an enemy that powerful before," I stated as I avoided mentioning the one thing that was stronger than Yellow Heart.

"But you basically have God-like powers!" Neptune stated. "How can we beat someone stronger than God!?"

"Well, you all are Goddesses, and Hikan is a God," I stated. "Yellow Heart is also considered a Goddess, like all of you, so we should be on leveled playing fields."

"But we're not!" Noire stated. "It only takes a few hits from her before we lose!"

"She's right," Blanc stated. "That CPU has to be cheating somehow..."

"I can't think of any way to cheat the CPU transformation. The strength depends solely on the user's original form after all," Vert claimed.

"Then she must be really strong in her normal form," Nepgear suggested.

"Or maybe it's because her boobs are bigger than Vert's! Maybe that's the reason!" Neptune suggested.

"W-What!? That is absolutely not the case!" Vert claimed. "Plus, she only has those breasts in her CPU form! I bet she's flatter than Blanc in her normal form!"

"Shut the hell up!" Blanc shouted.

"Either that or she probably has a source of power," I suggested. "Think about it. No CPU we've ever met has ever been this powerful. Yellow Heart's strength is stronger than the power of seven CPUs. There has to be a source."

"Zzzz...*snore*….zzz...Silvy..." Plutia drooled onto my sleeve as she rested her head against my shoulder.

"Plutia, wake up," I nudged at Plutia's head, waking her up. "You have to pay attention to this."

"Booo..." Plutia puffed out her cheeks as she awoke from her slumber.

"You can't always sleep. Too much sleep is a bad thing," I claimed.

"But naps are soooo nice..." Plutia mumbled.

"She's always like that. Just leave her be," Noire said. "Let's just focus on creating a plan to take out that stupid CPU."

I nodded. "Yeah. So, let's just—"

"LADY BLANC! AAAAGGHH!" Copypaste burst back into the room, roaring with his loud voice. "IT'S AN EMERGENCY!"

"Ah! His voice is louder than Noire's complaining!" Neptune whined.

"M-My ears..." Nepgear covered up her ears before I patted her head.

"How many times have I told you to not yell when you're around me, damnit!?" Blanc roared. "Your voice is already too freakin' loud. So don't go yelling!"

"O-Oh... Sorry," Copypaste bowed his head. "But it was an emergency!"

"Hm? What's the emergency?" Hikan asked.

"The Seven Sages are at Lowee's borders!" Copypaste claimed.

"What!? Really!?" Blanc stood up at Copypaste's claim.

"This could be our chance to take down that CPU!" Vert stated.

I nodded. "Yeah, we have to take her down this time, no matter what! This may be our only chance!"

"Alright ladies, and two guys, let's go after them!" Neptune shouted. She turned towards Copypaste. "You stay here and guard the Basilicom, alright boy?"

"Alright! I'll root for you all from here!" Copypaste stated. "I'll make Lady Blanc proud!"

"Thanks for the tea...!" Plutia thanked. "It was suuuuper tasty...!"

Neptune nodded and turned back to all of us. "Everyone, let's kick our rears in gear and go after the Seven Stages!"

Noire let out a sigh. "There were so many things wrong with what you just said..."

"It doesn't matter," I said. "Let's go!"

And, like that, we all stormed our of Lowee's Basilicom, after the Seven Sages...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This is the chapter's end! If you can't tell, the story is moving much faster. The reason is because I'm trying to speed up the pace of the story to make the entirety of the story a readable amount of chapters. Also, in case you didn't know, I WILL be uploading a chapter tomorrow. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	108. Chapter 108

Chapter 108

After a bit of running, we had all arrived over at where the Seven Sages were supposed to be. However, we didn't find what we expected.

"Hey, y'all!" Neptune pointed ahead of her, and we all turned to the direction of where she was pointing. "There be monsters up ahead, captain!"

"Hm?" Vert stared at the monsters up ahead. "They're...only normal monsters? Where are the Seven Sages?"

"They're not here..." Noire crossed her arm. "Were they just trying to mess with us!?"

"Damnit!" Blanc balled up a fist and cursed. "They're just toying with us!"

"Look on the bright side," I said as I stared at the several hordes of Dogoos up ahead. "You can at least quell your rage by beating up those Dogoos."

"I'm way ahead of you!" Blanc responded as she materialized her hammer and jumped towards the horde of Dogoos. "I'll end all of you bitches!"

"Hey! Slow down, Blanc!" Hikan called after her as he materialized his blade and rushed after her.

"Wait! Leave some for Nep!" Neptune shouted as she chased after the two of them. "I want the rare drops too!"

"Stop trying to steal all the credit!" Noire shouted as she also chased after them.

"S-Should we go too?" Nepgear asked as the rest of us watched from afar.

I shook my head and sat onto the grass. "Nah. Let's just let them handle it. I'm getting tired of running around for no reason. Plus, it gives me a chance to relax."

"I-I guess..." Nepgear timidely agreed as she sat down beside me.

"Heeey..." Plutia latched onto my back. "Can I nap on your back, Silvy...?"

I let out a sigh. "Sure, go ahead."

"Yaaaay..." Plutia let out a small cheer before letting out a yawn and beginning to nap.

"I will agree that this is quite relaxing," Vert stated. "It also means that I get some time to spend with my Nepgear!"

Nepgear let out a squeak as Vert pulled her into a tight hug. "V-Vert... Y-You're hugging me...too...tightly...!"

I let out a chuckle. "Hey, at least you're loved by someone, right Nepgear?"

At my words, Nepgear stared at me with a dissatisfied expression. "D-Don't say that!"

"I'm only kidding," I reassured her as I turned my attention towards the battle with the Dogoos.

"Ha!"

*Shk!* *Sk!* *Chk!* *Sploosh!* *Splosh!* *Hshhh!*

As a group of Dogoos surrounded Hikan and launched towards him, Hikan slashed at them, spinning as he slashed, allowing him to cut through them all at once. As the Dogoos blew up into tiny bits of jelly, Hikan quickly set the area around him ablaze, burning the gel away.

"Rah!"

*Crash!* *Boom!* *Thud!* *Splosh!* *SLAM!* *SPLOSH!*

Before Hikan could attack another horde of Dogoos, Blanc came from above and slammed her hammer down towards the horde of Dogoos. As the Dogoos blew up into gel bits, Blanc dashed towards a nearby group of Dogoos and slammed her hammer against them, crashing them into a nearby boulder and splashing the Dogoos into gel bits. Surrounding Blanc, several hordes of Dogoos lunged towards Blanc. Before the Dogoos could reach her, Blanc quickly jumped into the air as the Dogoos all piled up at Blanc's previous position. Bringing her hammer down, Blanc slammed her hammer down to the ground, splitting through the piles of Dogoos, and created a shock wave that blew up the rest of the Dogoos, splashing their gel everywhere.

I let out a sigh and looked over at Nepgear, who had escaped from Vert's clutches. "Doesn't this remind you of back then?"

Nepgear shined me a bright smile and nodded. "It does. It was when we first met."

I nodded. "Yeah..."

"Tah!"

"Take this!"

*Shk!* *Chk!* Sk!* **Slash!* *Splosh!*

Turning my attention back to the battle, I looked over to see Noire and Neptune back-to-back. At the same time, they both sliced at the last of their group of Dogoos, slashing through them and splashing jelly all over them.

"Yay! We're all done!" Neptune shouted as she spun to Nepgear and I, flashing us a peace sign. "How awesome did I look this time, Nep Jr.?"

Nepgear simply returned her sister's question with a smile. "You looked as cool as always, Neptune!"

"How about you, bub?" Neptune asked as she looked over at me. "Would you rate my performance Nep out of ten?"

I shrugged. "Nah. I didn't even see much out your fight. I'd rate it nine out of Nep."

"Hey! Don't be like all those talent show hosts!" Neptune whined. "It would've looked cooler if it had been in my point of view!"

"W-What about me, Silver?" Noire asked abruptly. "I-I mean... I-It's not like I actually care! I-I'm just curious!"

Nepgear and I both let out dry laughs at Noire's dishonesty. "You did fine Noire," Nepgear stated.

"Yeah, I'd rate your performance a Nep out of Nep," I stated.

Noire grew a faint blush and averted her gaze from mine. "R-Really?"

"H-Hey!" Neptune shoved Noire out of the way and got into my face. "Why does she get the ultimate rating? Her name isn't even Nep! She should get a rating like Loner out of Loner!"

"H-Hey!" Noire's blush deepened at Neptune's words. "I-I'm not lonely!"

"Mmgh..." As the two girls argued, Plutia awoke from her slumber and rubbed her eyes. "Morrrrrning..."

"Goodness," Nepgear stared at Plutia with worry. "Plutia, it's already the afternoon."

"It isssss...?" Plutia asked with a half-awake expression.

"Damnit!" Blanc let out a loud curse and punched a boulder splattered with Dogoo jelly. "That wasn't enough to calm me down! Let me rip someone's head off!"

Hikan shook his head. "Honestly, you just eliminated about four or five hordes of Dogoos. How are you not calm yet?"

"Shut up!" Blanc whirled his head towards Hikan. "Do you want to die first!?"

"Blanny...you sound soooo angry..." Plutia stated as she let out a giggle. "It makes me want to get angry too!"

"Urk!" At Plutia's words, Blanc tensed up and her anger disappeared as fast as it had come. "N-No! I-I'm not angry! I'm just relieving some stress, y'know?"

"Wow. It's scary that Plutia's words have the ability to change how a person acts," Nepgear muttered.

"At least she's on our side," Hikan muttered.

"Ehehe..." Plutia hugged Blanc. "Blanny is suuuch a good girl...!"

"S-Shut up!" Blanc shouted.

"Well, I guess that's that folks!" Neptune stretched her back. "You guys want to head back and continue chatting away about whatever at Blanc's Basilicom?"

"There's no point in even talking," Noire stated. "All we ever do there is talk about random stuff. It's impossible to hold a serious conversation."

"I-I'm sorry!" Nepgear bowed towards Noire.

"Honestly, there isn't a point," I agreed. "In these past ten years, we haven't been able to come up with a plan to take down the Seven Sages. If we had come up with a plan by now, we wouldn't even be in this situation."

"Well, whatever!" Neptune ignored us. "I can't wait to get back to Compa so that I can use her as my human body pillow!"

"Heeey...! That's not fair, Neppy...!" Plutia whined. "I want to use Compa too...! I want to nap on her lap...!"

"Fine..." Neptune let out a sigh. "You can have her bottom! I'll just use her soft, plump chest!"

"Don't you two think you're a bit possessive?" Noire asked.

"It's fine," Nepgear reassured her. "Compa actually quite enjoys the attention."

"That reminds me," Blanc muttered. "I haven't seen those two in a bit..."

"They've really grown up!" Nepgear stated. "They've grown up and have jobs!"

"Nepgear, nobody cares about their jobs," Neptune claimed. "We just care about the delicious snacks Compa will provide us!"

Vert let out a soft giggle. "Compa's snack are simply amazing!"

Blanc let out a snort at Vert's words. "Fatty..."

"It's not called being fat. It's called having an occasional, delicious snack!" Vert claimed.

"Seriously though," Hikan stared between Nepgear and I. "Compa and Nepgear are like housewives if you think about it..."

"You're right!" Neptune agreed. "Hey! Does that mean, when Nep Jr. and Silver get married, they're going to cook for me!?"

"M-M-Married!?" Nepgear's face turned a beet red color as she buried her face into her hands. "S-Sis! D-Don't say weird stuff like that! I-It's embarrassing!"

"Why not?" Neptune cocked her head. "Aren't you two going to get married and have little versions of yourselves?"

I let out a sigh and patted Nepgear's head. "Let's not go into that topic yet, Neptune," I suggested. "I'm not against the idea of marriage, but it's not the time to be saying things like that."

"Whatever," Noire turned to Neptune. "Are we heading to Planeptune's Basilicom or not?"

"Yeah, yeah. Don't get your panties in a twist, Lonely Heart," Neptune said.

"H-Hey!" Noire cast Neptune a dirty look.

"Yeah, let's just head back to the Baslicom," I suggested.

"Roger doger!" Neptune began to run ahead of us. "Let's hurry over there for Compa's delicious snacks and naps!"

"For naaaaaps...!" Plutia shouted as she chased after Neptune.

Hikan and I let out sighs, and the rest of us began to walk home.

* * *

"Heya! We're home!" Neptune blurted out as we all entered the Planeptune Basilicom living room.

"Oh! Welcome back Nep-Nep!" Compa greeted us. "Oh! Welcome back everyone! I knew that Nep-Nep's CPU friends would come, so that's why I made extra servings of snacks and dinner!"

"Really?!" Neptune's eyes sparkled. "Compa, you're the best!"

"Compa is soooo nice...!" Plutia agreed as she, along with Neptune, ran past Compa and towards the large platter piled up with a variety of snacks.

"It's good to see you too, Compa!" I flashed her a smile.

"You too, Silver!" Compa said as she returned my smile with her own.

I took a second to look at Compa as the others shuffled over towards the snack platter.

Compa now looked like the Compa from Hyper Dimension.

While her skin tone, hair color and facial features remained the same, Compa now had long, flowing hair, stretching down her back and her bosom had grown as well.

She now wore a sleeveless cream white wool sweater with a loose collar, she wore cut-off sleeves—made with the same material and design as her sweater—with puffballs dangling from the tops of the sleeves. Adding on to that, she wore a crooked brown, leather belt with a pink and brown pouch, which had a 'C' on it, attached to her belt.

Towards Compa's lower half, she wore a red and black checkered skirt, a pair of thigh-high brown stockings with pink highlights and a pair of white, frilly boots that rose up to her ankles and also had puffballs dangling from the boots' tops. Also, she wore a brown headband with an accessory that was shaped like the letter 'C'.

"Hm?" Compa cocked her head at me as I stared at her. "What's wrong? Is there something on me?"

"U-Um...no..." I turned away from her. "J-Just...thinking about some things..."

"Okay! Well, at least go fill your tummy with yummy snacks with Nep-Nep and Plu-Plu!" Compa suggested.

"R-Right..." I nodded and hurried over towards the platter of snacks, where everyone was. I took a bite from a cookie. "Wow, I forgot how good this was..."

"Her cooking ability is simply amazing!" Vert stated.

"This is really good..." Blanc muttered as she nibble away at her cookie.

"I'm jealous that you all get to eat such amazing cooking everyday," Noire admitted.

"Yup! That's just the life of the main character!" Neptune claimed.

"Hey!" A nearby voice barked. We spun to see who it was. It was IF. "Nep, you better not be messing with Lady Plutia!"

"Relax! We're just eating Compa's amazing cookies!" Neptune said as she waved her cookie for IF to see. "If you don't hurry up, the Cookie Monster will come and eat your share of the cookies!"

I looked over at IF. Her appearance also now resembled her Hyper Dimension appearance.

IF still had the same facial features, skin tone and hair color. While she still wore her leaf bow, her hair, like Compa, had grown longer and now flowed down her back. IF now wore an oversized navy blue jacket with an unbuckled belt and clips. Along with that, the jacket's hem was lined with a type of fur.

Under her oversized jacket, IF wore a black tank top, with a silver and gray belt at her waist, and a pair of short black shorts, exposing her bare legs. Lastly, she wore a pair of laced navy blue boots with white highlights and that rose up to her calves. But, unlike Compa, IF's bosom hadn't received a significant growth.

"H-Hey! Why are you looking at me like that!?" IF asked as she hid her body with her jacket.

"Sorry, I was thinking about something," I lied.

"Uh-huh. Sure," IF stared at me with a disgusted look.

"Iffy! He's probably thinking about that time with Sadie when you wet yourself!" Neptune claimed. "Y'know! When you were little and got kidnapped!"

"H-Hey! I didn't wet myself!" IF claimed. "D-Did I?"

The rest of us shrugged.

"I'm not sure," Vert wiped the crumbs at her mouth. "Perhaps you did..."

"Maybe you did, maybe you didn't..." Noire shrugged.

"I can't remember," Nepgear admitted.

Hikan and I nodded. "I don't remember either," we chorused.

"I think she did..." Blanc claimed.

"I think she did too!" Neptune agreed.

"S-So...I wet myself...in front of everyone..." IF's eyes widened and she curled up into a ball. "NOOOOOOO!"

I let out a sigh. "Oh boy..."

"What's all the commotion about?(・_・ヾ" Mini-Histoire asked as she floated into the room.

"Howdy, Mini-Histy!" Neptune waved towards Mini-Histoire. "What's up?"

Mini-Histoire let out a sigh. "Too much work...(;´Д`)"

"Really? What's been keeping you busy, Mini-Histy?" Hikan asked.

"Reports on the Seven Sages and Eden...(-_-;)" Mini-Histoire answered as she nibbled away on a cookie. "It's been taking up too much of my time."

"How about we helllllllp you, Histy...?" Plutia suggested.

"R-Really?!( ﾟдﾟ)" Mini-Histoire stared at Plutia in shock.

"Woah. What's with the sudden want to help Mini-Histy?" Neptune questioned.

"Welllll... She's done soooo much for us...!" Plutia pointed out. "Soooo... I want to repay her...!"

"P-Plutia...*sniff*...( ´•̥̥̥ω•̥̥̥` )" Mini-Histoire sniffled as tears streamed down her face. "I've been waiting for this moment for so long..."

"Well, if that's the case, let's all work hard!" I advised. "If Plutia is up for it, then we should be too!"

"Yeah!" Everyone chorused as we pumped our fists into the air.

"Everyone... Let's do our besttt...!" Plutia shouted.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here is the chapter's end! I redid the description for both IF and Compa's appearance. The reason I did this was because I felt like I didn't explain how they looked properly during my early chapters. That's why I redid their appearance descriptions and I hope they sound better. But that's all I really wanted to say this time. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	109. Chapter 109

Chapter 109

"Not again!" Neptune suddenly shouted as we all walked back towards the Basilicom.

"Goodness!" At Neptune's sudden cry, Nepgear jumped back. "S-Sis! Don't do that!"

"Why did you do that?" I asked.

"Because I realized that we're in 'the pattern'…" Neptune claimed.

"The pattern?" Hikan cocked his head, staring at Neptune with a confused expression. "Neptune, what are you talking about?"

"Everytime we're in this scene where we're walking back to the Basilicom, something happens!" Neptune claimed. "Whenever we walk through the Basilicom doors, Mini-Histy will be all like "Emergency! Emergency!"!"

"Well, I guess we'll find out if you're right..." I said as we reached the doorknob to the Basilicom. I turned to Plutia. "Plutia, if you will..."

Plutia nodded as she grabbed the door knob. "Okey-dokey...! I'm opening the door...!" Plutia swung the door open. "Hiiisty...! We're hooome...!"

"AHHH!(((( ;°Д°))))" Mini-Histoire floated towards us as we all entered the Basilicom. "Everyone! It's an emergency!( ﾟдﾟ)"

"It's a super, bad emergency!" Compa added as she also got into our faces.

"…" Vert, Blanc Noire and Hikan all facepalmed. Blanc let out a sigh. "It's bad that Neptune has learned to know what will happen everytime we're here..."

"Huh?" Mini-Histoire stared at us with confusion. "Why are you all looking so disappointed?(・_・" Mini-Histoire asked.

"Sorry," Neptune apologized. "I was being a bit meta earlier, and I might've ruined the surprise..."

"Neppy is sooo smart..." Plutia claimed.

"It is strange," Nepgear admitted. "Neptune really is so smart when it comes to things like these."

"Just tell us the situation this time," Noire requested as she turned her head to face Mini-Histoire's.

"R-Right...(・・)" Mini-Histoire nodded as she stared at us blankly. "Early, we found out IF had been kidnapped. Apparently, it was some lady going by the name Arfoire."

"Again...?" I also facepalmed and let out a groan.

"Geez... You'd think, after ten years, that she'd learn by now," Neptune said. "But nope! She's still trying to be a main villain in this story!"

"Yeah. Especially because of...that..." I nudged my head towards Plutia.

"Arfoire...agaaaaain..." A shadow was cast over Plutia, and she emitted her chilling aura. "I'll make sure to punish her reeeeal badly for touching my Iffy..."

"U-Um..." Nepgear took a step closer to me. "Hey, is it just me or are Plutia's personalities starting to merge together?"

I nodded. "No, I think you're right."

"I don't think now is the right time to go save her yet," Noire stated.

"What? You're not going to go save Iffy?" Compa frowned at Noire. "That's so cruel!"

"That's not what she means," Vert replied. "We simply need to prepare before we head out after Arfoire."

Hikan nodded. "Yeah, let's do that before we—"

"Why are you all stillllll talking...!?" Plutia asked as she glared at all of us. "Instead of wasting time, let's hurry up and go now...!"

We all tensed up and snapped to attention before saluting. "Yes ma'am!" We chorused.

"Wowie! Everyone is so well trained!" Compa commented.

"I'm proud of you, Plutia!(=^▽^=)" Mini-Histoire stated. "You're finally taking initiative!"

"Anyway, let's just hurry up and go before Plutia goes crazy," I suggested.

"Right!" Everyone nodded as we all stormed out of the Basilicom once again, with Plutia in the lead.

* * *

After we had ran back into the Basilicom to ask where IF was being held, the eight of us traveled towards a cave, towards it's depths.

"Oh. They actually showed up," Arfoire muttered as we reached the end of the cave.

At the end of the cave was Arfoire, Warechu and IF, being held tightly at her wrist by Arfoire.

"Hey! There they are!" Neptune stated as she pointed ahead towards them.

"Nep! Lady Plutia! Silver!" IF called out towards us.

"Iffy! We're here!" Neptune said as we ran up to them.

"How come nobody ever calls me out...?" Nepgear muttered under her breath.

I patted Nepgear's head before glaring over at Arfoire. "Arfoire! Let her go and we won't have to fight this out!"

"You seriously think I'm going to let her go?!" Arfoire let out a laugh. "After coming this far, why would I just hand her over to you!?"

"Granny, just hand the girl over," Warechu demanded. "You have no chance of winning, chu!"

"I say you listen to that rat," Hikan commented as he materialized his blade. "Otherwise, you won't like what will happen to you!"

"Hold on," I motioned Hikan to set his blade away.

"Hehehe... Arfooooire~…" Plutia formed a devilish smile and slowly walked towards Arfoire, the aura casting itself back over Plutia.

"N-No..." IF's eyes began to bulge as she stared at Plutia. "No! No! No! No! No! No! NO!

"W-What!?" As Plutia crept towards Arfoire, Arfoire's body began to shake uncontrollably. "Why the hell am I shaking so much!?"

"Wow, it's super effective," Neptune commented as we watched the event unfold before our very eyes.

"True," I nodded towards IF. "But it seems to have also caused some recoil damage to IF."

"IF, hurry!" Nepgear called out towards IF. "Hurry and get over here before she stops shaking!"

"NO! NO! NO! …...Huh?" IF blinked before looking over at her wrist, which was now free. "Oh! I'm coming!"

"Damn it!" Arfoire cursed as IF ran back towards us while Arfoire's body continued to tremble uncontrollably.

"Well, now there's really nothing to stop us from beating you to a pulp!" Blanc stated as she cracked her knuckles.

"Damnit! What do I do!?" Arfoire gritted her teeth as she looked around frantically.

"Man, you really are a dumb hag, y'know that?" Warechu questioned.

"W-What are you talking about, you rat!?" Arfoire roared.

"You're clearly in no shape to fight, so I'll buy you some time," Warechu said as he stepped in front of Arfoire. "Go!"

"W-Why are you doing this?" Arfoire asked. "I haven't even done anything nice for you before."

"Because even the evilest of villains still believe in the power of friendship, chu!" Warechu squeaked.

"…. T-Thanks..." Arfoire muttered as she disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

Warechu let out a sigh. "Well, I guess it's now or never," Warechu turned towards us. "I'll be your opponent! I, the Seven Sages' mascot, Warechu, will be your opponent!"

As Warechu stepped towards us, his logo appeared. Warechu's logo displayed his name with his yellow and red, cracked heart behind his name.

"Woah," Neptune stared at Warechu with awe. "Good job, rodent. That was pretty sick."

"Man. Even though he's a villain, he still believes in friendship," Hikan smiled. "This rat is truly a good animal."

"I-It's not like I'm crying before he mentioned friendship or anything!" Noire lied as tears formed in the corner of Noire's eyes.

"I-I suddenly have the urge to not fight this rat," Vert stated.

"Goodness. Maybe we shouldn't hurt this rat," Nepgear suggested. "He seems like such a good person."

"For a rat, he's pretty courageous," Blanc stated.

I nodded. "Wow. This has got to be the nicest villain we've ever fought."

"What's wrong!?" Warechu taunted. "Come at me!"

Hikan sighed. "Hey, maybe we can let him g—"

"Ehehe..." Plutia, who had been standing still, slowly turned her head towards Warechu. "Mr. Raaaat~…"

"What!? Come and get some!" Warechu taunted.

*Ching!*

"Crap!" The will was drained from Warechu once Plutia transformed. "W-What the!?"

"You really have forgotten about me, haven't you?" Plutia materialized her whip blade and slowly crept towards Warechu. "I told you long ago that you WILL call me Your Ladyship!"

"C-Crap!" Warechu began to form a cold sweat. "H-Hey! Can't we talk about this!?"

"Oh well. If Plutie says so, we gotta do it," Neptune let out a sigh.

"I was really hoping we could let him go," Vert muttered. "But I guess that's not possible..."

"I don't really mind," Blanc stated. "At least we didn't come here for nothing."

I stared at Warechu with a sympathetic look. "Sorry..."

*Ching!*

"Let's just hurry and get this over with," Neptune said as all the CPUs transformed into their HDD forms.

"Because I respect you, I shall not hold back against you, rat!" Vert said as we all materialized our weapons.

"H-Hey! We can talk about this, right!?" Warechu asked.

"Again, sorry," I apologized as I set my body to thirty percent.

"Don't worry, you filthy rat," Plutia said as she continued creeping towards me. "I'll make sure that, this time, you won't forget my name!"

"Crap! Crap! Crap!" Warechu began to flail panically. "W-Wait a second!"

"It's been a second!" Hikan shouted as he got ready to lunge towards Warechu. "Sorry, not sorry!"

*Bang!* *CRASH!* *Shwing!* *Thud!* *SLAM!*

While Warechu still wore his worried expression, Hikan and Vert rushed towards him, jabbing their weapons down at Warechu. Quickly, Warechu jumped out of the way of the two CPU's strikes. Before Warechu could land onto the ground, I quickly dashed towards him and slashed down at him. Dodging to the side, Warechu avoided my slash and fell to the ground. As Warechu pushed himself back up, Blanc jumped over me and slammed her axe down on Warechu. Warechu, however, continued jumping out of the way of our blows.

*Crack!* *Crash!* *Thud!*

As Warechu jumped away from Blanc's axe, Noire slid in behind Warechu and kicked at the back of his small head, crashing him into a wall and causing him to fall to the ground.

"Uugh..." Warechu twitched a bit as his body refused to respond.

We all grouped back together, and I stared at Warechu. "Yeah, I think that's all he can handle. Let's just leave him be."

"That was too easy," Noire stated with a smirk.

"No..." Plutia shook her head and slowly walked over to Warechu's broken body. "Not yet..."

"Huh?" Warechu turned his eyes up to see Plutia standing in front of him. "N-No! Please! No!"

"N-No..." I turned to see IF trembling and wearing a frightful expression as she latched onto my arm. "No! No! No! NO! NO!"

"U-Um, Plutia?" Nepgear stared between IF and Plutia with a worried expression. "Maybe you shouldn't torture him..."

Plutia formed a wide grin at Nepgear's words. "Too late!"

*Crack!*

Warechu swallowed hard and sweat began to flood down his body. "NO! DON'T DO IT! SOMEBODY! SAVE ME!"

*Crack! Crack!* *Smack!* *Slap!* *Smack!* *Crack!*

"No! NO! NO!" IF tightened her grip on me, and I patted her head in an attempt to comfort her.

"I...can't watch this..." Hikan said as he turned away from Plutia's display. "If I watch this, I'll have nightmares tonight."

"I can believe that," I said as I continued to watch the terrible sight unfold before me.

"U-Um... Should we stop her?" Nepgear asked.

"Don't do it, Nep Jr.!" Neptune shouted. "If you do that, then you'll end up being the one getting hurt instead! I don't want my adorable little sister to get hurt!"

"Neptune..." Nepgear sniffled and stared at her sister. "Do you really think that?"

"Of course!" Neptune nodded firmly. "Also, I need someone to keep making me food..."

"H-Huh? What'd you say, Neptune?" Nepgear asked.

"N-Nothing, Nepgear!" Neptune lied as she averted her gaze.

*Crack!* *Smack!*

"Gah! N-No more! CHUUUU!" Warechu continued to squeak out in pain.

"Hahaha! Yes! Keep crying!" Plutia demanded.

"I'll at least give the rat credit for attempting to fight us, even though he was so weak..." I stated.

"We'll at least take him to the Basilicom to heal after this," Noire stated.

I nodded. "Yeah, I agree with you there."

"NO! NO! NO! NO!" IF continued to shriek out cries as Plutia continued torturing Warechu.

Hikan let out a sigh. "We might be here for awhile..."

"Yeah," Neptune agreed. "Let's just skip to the next scene!"

"Yeah. I don't want to watch this anymore," Blanc agreed.

And, as we continued watching and listening to IF's cries, Plutia continued to torture Warechu...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This is the chapters's end! I'm going to try and get as much of the story covered with the four-upload schedule as possible. However, there will be one side event that I will need to write soon. But, I will try to wrap up Arc Three pretty soon so that we can move onto Arc Four. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	110. Chapter 110

Chapter 110

After an indescribably, traumatizing punishment session with Plutia, Warechu was knocked unconscious, but Plutia had continued to beat at him. Eventually, after about an hour, Warechu was covered in bruises and Plutia had gotten bored of lashing away at Warechu. After that, we took Warechu back to Planeptune's Basilicom to have him treated by Compa.

"Mister Mouse, please wake up!" Compa called out as she nudged at Warechu's tiny body.

I stared at Warechu while I sat with a traumatized IF in the corner. Plutia's beating had not only terrified IF, but it had also beaten Warechu so badly that only his face was still visible, while the rest of his body was covered in bandages.

"...H-Huh?" Warechu's eyes fluttered open before he looked down at himself. "I-I'm...alive?"

Compa let out a relieved sigh. "Oh thank goodness you're okay! I tried my best to treat your boo-boos!" Compa turned back to us and frowned. "You all did too much! You gave Mister Mouse too many owwies!"

"It's not our fault!" Neptune denied. "It was ninety-five percent Plutie and one percent me!"

"Plutia did keep beating away at him even after he was knocked unconscious..." Nepgear stated.

"I didn't hurt him toooo much this time..." Plutia claimed. "I only hurt him a liiiittle..."

"I find that hard to believe, considering IF is acting the way she is right now," I stated as I looked back over at IF.

"Lady Plutia don't do it! Stop making them scream! Please don't hurt me! No! NO! NO!" IF had her eyes squeezed shut and was in a fetal position, muttering to herself.

I patted IF's head. "Hey, it's over now, IF. You can peek your eyes open now."

"NOO!" IF let out a shriek and buried her face into her knees.

"I am worried about Iffy, but Mister Mouse comes first," Compa stated.

"I'm alive..." Warechu snapped his head to Compa. "H-Hey! W-What's your name?"

"Hm?" Compa turned back to Warechu and flashed a bright smile. "Oh! My name is Compa!"

"Compa..." A bit of color entered Warechu's cheeks. "Oooh! My lovely angel Compa, chu!"

"H-Hey! Please don't do that!" Compa demanded as Warechu rolled around on the couch. "Your bandages will fall off!"

"Compa! Compa! Compa! CHUUU!" Warechu continued to shout Compa's name as he rolled around on the couch.

Hikan let out a sigh. "Looks like this rat is in love..."

I nodded as I continued to pat IF's head. "Yeah. I think so..."

"This reminds me of something that happened once before..." Nepgear stated as she watched the event unfold.

"Now's not the time to be talking about this stuff," Noire stated as she approached Warechu. "Hey! Snap out of it!"

Warechu waved away Noire as he continued rolling around. "Later! Right now, all I want to think about is my lovely Compa!"

"I don't care! I need you to answer my questions!" Noire said. She turned to Plutia. "Hey, Plutia. Transform and show this rat who's boss!"

"Reallly...?" Plutia formed a wide grin as Noire nodded. "Okey-dokey...!"

"W-Wait! Wait! Wait!" Warechu snapped from his trance and flailed his arms. "I'll talk! I'll talk!"

"Wow, Noire's getting really good with these evil threats," Neptune stated, "Could the plot twist be that she's actually the final boss?!"

"S-Shut up! I-It was just an empty threat!" Noire claimed.

"Tell us everything you know about the Seven Sages," Blanc demanded.

"Any information about that CPU, Yellow Heart, would help," Vert added. "She has to have a hidden source of power."

"Hmph!" Warechu crossed his arms and turned away from us. "Sorry! That's stuff I'd rather not talk about!"

"Please, Mister Mouse," Compa begged. "We'd really appreciate that!"

"That robot tampered with Yellow Heart's power and allowed him to magnify her strength, giving her the power of ten CPUs," Warechu explained as his eyes remained fixated on Compa's.

"Hmm..." Vert scratched at her chin. "That must mean that she does have a source of power, yes? Tell us where it is."

Warechu snapped from his trance and turned away once again. "Like I would do that! I'm not selling out anymore!"

I turned to Compa. "Can you get him to tell us?"

"Mister Mouse, please tell us," Compa pleaded as she formed fake tears at the corner of her eyelids. "It would make me super happy!"

Warechu snapped back into his trance. "The robot has his own laboratory or something at the outskirts of Eden's borders. That's also where Yellow Heart's source of power is."

"Wow, this rat is so good at doing one-eighties!" Neptune stated. "That's just the power of Compa's innocent charm!"

"Thanks to that, we've learned some valuable information," Hikan stated.

I nodded. "So she does have a source of power. That means if we destroy that source of power, then we should be able to beat her with no problem!"

"Then all we need to do is find that robot's lair and destroy that power source!" Blanc stated.

Warechu let out a sigh. "Well, I've already dug myself into a pretty deep hole, so there's no point in trying to get out of it. Is there anything else you guys want to know?"

"Oh! Oh! Me! Me!" Plutia shouted as her hand shot up and she bounced up and down. "Is it true that mice and rats don't actually like cheeese...?"

"Urk!" Warechu tensed up. "I can't say that! That's one of rodentkind's most valuable secrets! I cannot say that no matter what! Sorry squirt!"

"Awwww... I really wanted to know..." Plutia sighed.

"It doesn't matter," Noire stated. "We got what we came for, so let's head out!"

I nodded and turned back to IF. "Are you going to be alright?"

"Y-Yeah..." IF sniffed before looking up at me. "I'll be fine. Don't worry."

I smiled. "Alright."

"Alright!" Neptune turned to Mini-Histoire. "Mini-Histy, we're heading off now!"

"All of you, do be careful,(･д･)" Mini-Histoire warned us.

"Don't worry," Hikan gave her the thumbs up. "We're used to this type of stuff!"

"Alriiighty...!" Plutia pointed towards the door. "Everyone... Let's goooo...!"

And, at Plutia's words, we all ran out of the door, towards Anonydeath's lab...

* * *

After searching the outskirts of Eden's borders, we found an abandoned factory towards the very edge of Lastation.

"You think this is actually where that creepy robot is?" Hikan asked.

I shrugged. "Could be. I don't believe that rat was lying. He seemed pretty hypnotized by Compa. There's no way he could lie to her face."

"Only one way to find out," Noire said as she kicked open the door.

*CLANG!* *BOOM!*

As Noire kicked the metal door down, the door crashed to the ground with a loud clang. I let out a sigh. "Noire, you probably shouldn't have kicked down the door," I advised. "That probably alerted anything that was in here."

"Well what would you have done!?" Noire asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know... Maybe pick the lock," I pointed towards the lock on the knocked-down door. "There was a lock after all."

"It doesn't matter now," Blanc stated. "All that matters is that we're in."

Vert nodded. "Yes. Let us hurry so that we can find and destroy that power source!"

"Hold on! I want to look around..." Neptune took a moment to examine the laboratory. "So this is the lab..."

I looked around the room. There were rows after rows filled with consoles, monitors and machines with colorful buttons and switches. "This looks like one of those government computer rooms."

"Wooow..." Nepgear stared at the machines with sparkling eyes. "There's so much hardware in here!"

"U-Um... Nep Jr.?" Neptune stared at her sister with a worried look. "You're eyes are sparkling again..."

"She'll get over it eventually," I reassured her.

"Heeey, Noire..." Plutia turned to Noire.

"Yeah? What's up?" Noire asked.

"If that robot has watched you through those cameras for soooo long... Then doesn't that mean he has loooots of videos of you...?" Plutia asked.

"Ahhhh!" Noire let out a shriek, and her face turned red. "Just shut up! Let's just hurry and find that generator!"

"Boy, you really need to work on your security Noire," Neptune suggested.

Hikan let out a sigh. "We can worry about that later. Let's just hurry up and find Anonydeath."

"Wait!" Neptune suddenly tensed up and looked down a dark corridor. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear whaaaat, Neppy...?" Plutia asked.

"Neptune, have you finally lost your mind?" I asked.

Neptune shook her head. "I'm pretty sure I'm still sane...I think..." Neptune claimed. "The point is that my Nep Senses were tingling and I heard a sound down that way!"

"Is that just your fancy way of saying you heard something and you believe we should go check it out?" I asked.

"Maybe..." Neptune muttered as her eyes drifted to the side.

"It doesn't matter. Let's just go," Blanc said.

We all nodded and walked down the long corridor...

* * *

After a while of walking down the long corridor, we reached another door. Upon entering the room, we found nothing but more machines and nowhere else to go.

"Hey, Neptune?" I asked. "Are you sure you heard something?"

"Of course I did!" Neptune claimed. "I heard a phone-clicking onomatopoeia and a male voice sounding extremely girly. So it has to be this way."

"No, Neptune was right," Blanc pointed towards a bulky machine up ahead. "Look. There it is."

"Awww... You're already here..." A familiar voice whined.

"That voice!" Noire turned to the direction of the voice. "Show yourself!"

"I'm coming. Don't get your panties in such a twist..." Anonydeath muttered as he emerged from behind the machine.

"Oh geez. Not you again," Hikan let out a sigh.

"It's you again!" Noire glared at Anonydeath. "I'll make sure to destroy you and get rid of those videos!"

"Oh dear. It seems you've all found me," Anonydeath let out a sigh. "Still, you've come to fast Noire. Boys don't like girls who do that..."

"W-What are you talking about!?" Noire shouted as her face turned beet red. "AHHH! Stop saying weird stuff like that!"

"S-Silver..." Nepgear turned to me, but I only shook my head.

"Let's not talk about that..." I advised.

"Why's your face soooo red, Noire...?" Plutia asked curiously.

I shook my head. "You would probably know if you transformed..."

"Man. I totally don't know. There's no way it could be some type of sexual and perverted innuendo," Neptune claimed sarcastically.

Hikan turned to Neptune. "You know exactly what she's thinking."

"Oh, but I do wonder what Noire is imagining in that dirty mind of her's..." Vert stated.

Blanc facepalmed. "Just stop..."

"Stop talking about that!" Noire shrieked.

"Aw... Poor Noire," Anonydeath shook his head. "How about we team up and beat them up?"

Noire nodded. "Yeah! Let's beat them—No! Of course not! I'd never side with you of all people!"

"Wow. Noire told a joke. That's like super rare!" Neptune stated.

"Just SHUT UP!" Noire shouted.

"Oh, you're so, so easy to tease! That's why I love you!" Anonydeath stated.

"And that's why I hate you so, so much!" Noire snarled through her gritted teeth.

"Hey! Quit trying to stall us!" I shouted.

"Oh poopy... You figured it out..." Anonydeath sighed.

"I'll murder you!" Noire shouted.

*Ching!*

"Let's just hurry up and kill him so that we can destroy that machine!" Hikan shouted as everyone went into their HDD forms.

Anonydeath let out a sigh. "Let's just get this over with..."

"GO!" I commanded.

*Bang!*

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here is the chapter's end! There's not much for me to say this time though. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	111. Chapter 111

Chapter 111

*Bang!*

We all charged towards Anonydeath.

*Clang!*

As we thrusted our weapons towards his head, an energy barrier appeared and repelled us back to the floor. Hikan and I quickly recovered our footing and dashed towards him once again. While Hikan increased his speed, sliding behind Anonydeath, I slowed down time and raced towards Anonydeath. Slashing towards his head, time resumed as the two of us slashed at his head.

*Clang!* *KSH! KSHHH!*

Before our blades could make contact against his head, the six long daggers blocked our strikes with their immense strength.

"Oh, boys," Anonydeath shook his head. "You're going to have to go in harder than that..."

I gritted my teeth. "HIKAN!"

"I GOT IT!" Hikan shouted back.

"GRAAAAAAH!"

*KSHHH!* *HSHHH!* *Crack!* *HSSSH!* *CLANG!* *SMASH!*

We let out a roar as we poured our energy into our blades and pressed against the daggers with more force. As a crack began to form at the edges of the daggers, we applied even more pressure, causing the daggers to snap. Before Anonydeath could react to the daggers breaking, we threw a punch towards his head and sent him crashing into a wall.

*CRASH!* *CRRRRSH!* *Crack!* *BANG!* *CLANG!* *CRACK!* *CRK!*

Before Anonydeath could get back to his feet to defend himself, Blanc and Vert charged towards him. As Anonydeath turned his head up, Blanc slammed her axe into his gut, dragging Anonydeath up along the walls. After reaching a certain height, Blanc threw Anonydeath towards Vert. Closing in on Vert, Vert formed several circles and shot multiple spears from them towards Anonydeath.

*BOOM!* *SHK!* *BOOM!* *Shhhk!* *Clink!*

As the spears drove Anonydeath back against a wall, Vert threw her spear towards Anonydeath, driving her spear into his breastplate. Taking the spear out of his breastplate and tossing it aside, Anonydeath got back to his feet, only for Noire and Neptune to charge at his face with blades filled with a rainbow energy.

*CLANG!* *SHK!* *BOOM!*

Raising an energy shield to protect himself, Anonydeath shielded himself, only for Nepgear and Plutia to smash the barrier into pieces. While Anonydeath was left exposed, Neptune slashed her blade at Anonydeath while Noire slammed her blade against Anonydeath.

*FWMPH!*

At the force of Noire's blade, a huge shockwave was created, blowing us back. As the pressure subsided, I looked over at Anonydeath to see his destroyed body leaning against the wall.

"Alright... I give up," Anonydeath stated. "Yeah, yeah. You guys win..."

"You weren't trying that hard, were you?" I asked as I approached Anonydeath.

Anonydeath tisked. "I knew this would have been the outcome anyways."

"Whatever," Noire turned her attention towards the power supply. "Let's hurry up and destroy this thing!"

Plutia turned away. "I'll pass. It can't cry, scream or beg..."

"I-I'll pass too!" Nepgear stated. "I can't hurt an innocent machine."

I shrugged. "I'll do it."

Hikan nodded. "Then I guess it's everyone besides Nepgear and Plutia."

We all surrounded the machine. "On three everyone," Noire instructed. "One, two, three!"

"TAH!"

*BANG!* *BOOM!*

We all quickly charged towards the machine and struck it with our strongest attacks. Backing away, the machine blew up into a bright light. When the light subsided, the machine was no more, leaving only a few wires and chip fragments scattered around.

"Oh golly! You all really did destroy the machine! How am I going to explain this to dear Rei...?" Anonydeath sulked. "Actually... Yes. This could actually work..."

"It's finally destroyed!" Blanc cheered as she smashed the remaining bits of the machine. "Now that CPU won't be able to do shit to us!"

"Blanc... I think you're getting too excited..." I claimed.

"Leave her be. She's always like this," Hikan stated.

Vert let out a sigh. "Now there really shouldn't be a problem handling that childish CPU."

Neptune nodded. "Yeah. We should be able to finish her off with ease."

"Aww..." Nepgear stared at the remains of the machine with a saddened expression. "I really wish I could have taken some of what was in that machine..."

"It's alright," Vert reassured her. "You can take as much as you want!"

"R-Really?" Nepgear stared at Vert with gleaming eyes. "Goodness! Thanks Vert!"

"Don't..." Before Nepgear could grab anything, Neptune and I grabbed Nepgear's hands, restraining her from grabbing the machine's remains.

"Aww..." Nepgear bowed her head.

"I guess they're distracted. In that case..." Anonydeath slowly began to slip away. "Sneak...sneak..."

"Yeah, you're not getting away..." Noire stated as she and Plutia stepped in front of Anonydeath.

"Where do you think you're going?" Plutia asked as she cracked her whip blade.

"O-Oh... I-I was just...um...getting some fresh air. T-That's all..." Anondeath claimed. "P-Plus, why do you even have to go for me now? You've already destroyed that machine..."

"There's a chance you might rebuild it," Noire suggested. "And I'm not taking any chances!"

"Please... That thing takes so much money and time to make," Anonydeath claimed. "Plus, I don't like to build two of the same machines..."

"Even if you were to promise, I'll make sure to end you here and now!" Plutia stated as she stepped closer towards Anonydeath. "Hope you've made your final wishes..."

"Daddy!" A familiar voice called out as it approached us.

"The hell!?" We all turned towards the direction of the voice.

*Crash!*

A wall was smashed through, creating smoke and a bit of debris. As the smoke settled, it revealed to be Yellow Heart.

"Oh! I'm glad that wish came true!" Anonydeath squealed. "How'd you even find me?"

"I thought daddy was in trouble, so I came over here as fast I could!" Yellow Heart stated.

"Wow, that's pretty impressive," I murmured.

"Golly! Although you're so dumb, your animal instincts are amazing!" Anonydeath stated.

"Yay! Praise!" Yellow Heart cheered.

"Please don't tell me we have to fight her," Hikan begged. "If we were to fight her now, she'll lose completely!"

"Daddy, can I fight these meanies?" Peashy asked. "They're bad, right?"

"Oh yes!" Anonydeath lied. "Of course you can! Go at full power too!"

I glared at Anonydeath. "You monster! You know full well that your daughter cannot defeat us!"

"I know..." Anonydeath admitted. "But can you defeat her?"

"What do you mean?" Neptune asked.

"It doesn't matter," Noire claimed. "Let's just end her now!"

"Keep a close eye on the robot," Hikan advised everyone. "We can't let him escape."

"Oh, don't you worry about me..." Anonydeath claimed. "I won't move an inch. I want to be here for what happens next..."

"I'll defeat all of you meanies!" Peashy shouted as her claws materialized.

I let out a sigh as we all materialized a new set of weapons. "Something is really off... But I can't figure out what it is..."

"It doesn't matter! Let's go!" Blanc shouted.

*Bang!* *Shk!* *Chk!* *Crash!* *Crack!* *BOOM!*

We charged at Yellow Heart from all sides and slammed our weapons at her. Now much slower, Yellow Heart quickly retreated towards the air. As she rose up into the air, I quickly materialized several throwing knives and threw them towards her, pinning her wings to the ceiling. Before I could detonate the knives, Yellow Heart pulled herself free from the ceiling, only to be slammed against the ceiling by Blanc.

"Gah!"

*Clang!* *Shk!* *Slash!*

Kicking Blanc away, Yellow Heart charged towards Blanc and slashed at her. Before her slash could make contact with Blanc, Hikan stepped in front of Yellow Heart and parried the strike, leaving Yellow Heart fully exposed. Before Yellow Heart could recover, Neptune and Nepgear slashed at Yellow Heart before kicking her away.

"Ugh!"

*Crack!* *Boom! Boom! Boom! BOOM!* *Crash!*

Recovering from her kick, Yellow Heart punched away an oncoming Noire and dodged Plutia's whiplash by hairs. But before Yellow Heart could recover from her evasion, Vert swooped in and jabbed her spears multiple times at Yellow Heart's chest, sending her crashing into the ground.

"AGGGH!" Yellow Heart let out one final cry as we all landed right in front of her.

"I'll deliver the final blow," Neptune stated as she approached Yellow Heart. "Goodbye..."

I turned to Anonydeath to see him unphased. "What the...?"

"What's wrong, boy?" Anonydeath asked. "Did you figure it out?"

"What...are you—!" My eyes widened at the realization. I clenched my jaw. "You bitch..."

"Hiyah!"

"Wait!"

*SHK!*

Before Neptune's slash could touch Yellow Heart, I quickly dashed in front of her and took the slash, receiving a long gash across my chest.

I coughed out some blood. "M-Made...it..."

"H-Hey!" Neptune stared in horror.

"W-What the!?" The others also stared in shock.

"S-Silver? Why did you do that!?" Neptune asked as her hands trembled.

I looked over at Yellow Heart. "Y-You'll see once...she turns into her normal form..."

"H-Her normal form...?" Neptune stared at Yellow Heart with confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Y-You'll see..." I coughed out.

"AGGGH!" Yellow Heart let out one more cry and a white light enveloped her, causing her to slowly turn back into her normal form.

*Ching!*

"N-No...way..." Neptune stared at Yellow Heart's normal form with complete horror. "H-How...can this be?"

Everyone gasped as they also saw her normal form. I turned back to confirm my assumption. I nodded. "Y-Yeah... I-It's Peashy..."

Laying on the ground was a badly bruised Peashy. "Owwy!" Peashy rubbed her head. "Where did my boobies go?"

Plutia gritted her teeth and glared over at Anonydeath. "WHAT IS THIS!? IS THIS SOME KIND OF SICK JOKE!?"

"Oh, it's anything but a joke," Anonydeath stated. "It's reality..."

"P...P-Ko...?" Neptune reached out to touch Peashy.

"Get away from me, lady!" Peashy shouted as she backed away from Neptune. "I don't even know what a P-Ko is!"

"That's your name! Did you really forget?" Blanc asked.

Peashy shook her head. "Nuh-uh! My name is Yellow Heart!"

Hikan glared over at Anonydeath. "You erased her memories, didn't you!?"

Anonydeath shrugged. "Well how else was I supposed to get her to fight you all?"

*Ching!*

Neptune reverted back to her normal form and ran up to Peashy. "C'mon P-Ko! How could you forget your friendly neighborhood Neptuna?"

"I don't know you at all! I've never met you before!" Peashy denied.

*Ching!*

Plutia also reverted back to her normal form. "But Peaashy...! You used to call me Ploot...!" Plutia pulled out Peashy's old stuffed animal, which had it's head sewed back on. "I even kept this for you...!"

"I don't know you people!" Peashy continued denying. "Pea doesn't know any of you!"

"There!" Neptune said. "You just called yourself Pea in the third person! Only P-Ko would know that name!"

"Pea?" Peashy's face blanked. "Why did I say Pea?"

"Hm?" Anonydeath stared at Peashy with a surprised look. "Incredible. I didn't think they'd be able to bring back those memories I locked up so tightly..."

"Uugh...!" Peashy grabbed her head as she stumbled back.

"P-Ko!" Neptune called out to Peashy.

"This won't do..." Anonydeath sighed. "Everyone! Turn your attention this way!"

We all turned towards Anonydeath, who had just pressed a button. "I just activated the self-destruction sequence. That means that this place will blow up in a minute!"

"The hell!?" Blanc shouted. "Why did you do that!?"

"Let's just hurry and get out!" Hikan shouted as sirens blared loudly.

"But what about P-Ko?!" Neptune asked as Anonydeath disappeared with Peashy.

"Let's go!" Blanc shouted.

"…" As the others raced away, I stood there staring towards where Peashy had left.

"Silver! What are you doing!?" Nepgear asked. "Hurry up!"

I turned back to her and smiled. "I'll catch up later..."

Before she had a chance to respond, I froze time and dashed towards the direction of Peashy.

*Clang!*

As I resumed time, I heard a door slam shut behind me. "PEASHY!"

* * *

"Haaa...haaa..."

As I continued to run down a long hallway after Peashy, the walls began to close in as I neared an open room. I quickly increased my speed and jumped towards the room, missing the crushing walls by hairs.

"Well, it seems you actually followed us..." Anonydeath muttered as I faced him. "Looks like you're not as dumb as the others..."

I gritted my teeth and stared at Peashy. "Return Peashy at once!"

"Hmph! Like I would!" Anonydeath snapped his fingers and pulled Peashy back with him. "Now, goodbye."

"Huh?" I looked around to see wall-mounted turrets all facing towards me. I turned to Peashy. "Peashy... You can't forget! You can't forget about Neptuna or Ploot or Sickle or about your stuffed animal or IF or Compa or Nepgear!"

"S-Sickle...?" Peashy stared at me with a puzzled expression.

Staring at Peashy, I clenched my fist and bit my lip. "We'll save you, Peashy... Don't worry..."

*BANG! BANG!* *CLINK!* *CLANG!* *Sk! Sk! Sk!* *Chk!*

"AGGHHH!"

Blood began to spray out into the room as all the turrets began spraying me with bullets, cutting through multiple parts of my body and piercing others with a sharp, burning pain.

I collapsed to the ground as the bullets stopped spraying towards me. The gash from Neptune's blade and all the bullet holes had weakened my body too much to move, leaving me with the only option of healing. "D-Damnit...!" I forced my hazed vision up towards Peashy. I stretched out my hand towards her. "P-Peashy..."

"Sorry, boy," Anonydeath apologized through his echoey voice. "You're not saving her today..."

As he uttered those final words, I felt the weight beneath me disappear as I began to fall further and further away from Peashy...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This is the end of the chapter! Yes, Peashy is Yellow Heart, if you didn't already know. Also, if you didn't know, that bit at the end of the chapter wasn't in the original storyline. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	112. Chapter 112

Chapter 112

"Mmgh..." Waking up from my slumber, I looked up to see a blurry room.

"We have to wait for Silver to wake up before doing anything!" An echoey voice said.

"I don't think he's waking up anytime soon..." Another voice claimed. "We did find him on our doorsteps after all, and his body was really destroyed."

"H-Hey..." I coughed out as my vision and hearing focused. "I-I'm...still..alive..."

"Huh?" I looked to my right to see all the CPUs gathered together in a circle. Seeing my face, they smiled brightly and ran towards me. "Silver!"

I rose to my feet from the couch as the others crowded around me. While the others crowded me, I looked down at my body to see no bullet wounds or a giant gash across my chest. Instead, there were tightly-wrapped bandages covering me.

"Are you alright?" Nepgear asked as she pushed her way towards me and pulled me into a tight hug.

I nodded. "Yeah. I feel fine," I reassured her. "Actually, I feel like I was never injured at all."

"Thank goodness," Nepgear let out a relieved sigh and lightly pressed her lips against my bandaged-wrapped chest. "You really scared me..."

"You scared all of us," Hikan stated. "We opened the Basilicom doors and found you just lying there on the ground. You were covered in so many bullets wounds that Compa had to bandage your whole body."

I let out a dry laugh and scratched the back of my head. "Ahaha... Sorry..."

"You really are reckless, you know that?" Noire asked.

"On the bright side, the lab never did self-destruct, and Silver did make it out of the lab alive," Vert stated.

"It never blew up?" I asked curiously, and Vert shook her head. "That's probably what he meant when he said I was smart to follow him..."

"Did you get P-Ko back?" Neptune asked.

"No..." I shook my head with shame. "Sorry..."

"It's fine," Hikan stated. "While you were resting, Neptune came up with a plan to get Peashy back."

I cocked my head. "Really? What is it?"

Neptune shook her head and smiled confidently. "That's a secret!" Neptune teased. "Don't worry! This plan will definitely work!"

"I hope so..." I muttered. I looked over towards the kitchen area to find Mini-Histoire riding Copypaste's head, while Warechu and Abnes argued. "Though, why are they here? And how did Copypaste even fit in here?"

Blanc let out a sigh and shook her head. "You...don't want to know..."

"So, what are we going to do now?" I asked, ignoring the former Seven Sages' members.

"We're going to head out," IF spoke up. "We're going to the Seven Sages' real base."

"You guys are coming too?" I questioned.

Compa nodded. "That's right! We want to see Pea too! And Nep-Nep said that we needed to come with her..."

I scratched my chin as I gently pulled Nepgear off of me. "I see... Then let's go!"

Throwing on my clothes, we all scrambled out the door.

* * *

After looking around in Eden, we found the base hidden behind a factory wall. The inside of the base was rather clean with it's shining metal floors and neatly-arranged lights.

"This place looks so clean," Hikan murmured as we walked down the empty, echoey hallway.

I nodded. "Yeah. To think that they had such a large facility hidden here..."

"That's great and all, but I'm just worried about P-Ko..." Neptune sulked.

I nodded. "Yeah, me too."

"I miss her sooo much..." Plutia whined.

"We'll find her. Don't worry," Nepgear reassured her.

"Yeah, but do you think we got lost?" Noire asked as we continued to walk down the hallway. "Because we've been walking for about ten minutes now, and we haven't come across a single doorway..."

"Maybe we should have brought Warechu with us," Hikan suggested.

Plutia let out a shriek. "Ewwwwww...!"

"Seriously! That rat is disgusting!" Neptune stated with a shivering spine.

"But Mister Mouse is still healing..." Compa protested. "He needs to recover from his owwies."

"What about Abnes?" I suggested.

"She's too much of an annoying, little girl!" Neptune whined.

"She is pretty anonying..." Noire agreed.

"Oh! What about Copypaste?" Nepgear asked. "He's such a strong robot and can guide us!"

Blanc shook her head. "You're wrong on both points," Blanc claimed. "We had to hurry and fix him, so we got rid of all his weapons and replaced his body with paper mache. Also, it would look too strange if we walked around with a giant robot."

Neptune nodded. "That's right! Sorry. No robots for you today, Nep Jr.!"

Nepgear bowed her head. "Awww..."

"How long are you all going to keep talking?" Mr. Badd's voice called out.

We spun our heads to face ahead of us to find Mr. Badd standing in front of us, without his Babybugs.

"You!" Blanc glared at Mr. Badd.

"Is there something wrong?" Mr. Badd asked.

"Why are you here anyways?" Neptune asked. "We've already fought you before and you're still the same!"

"That's not true!" Mr. Badd barked. "In the past twenty chapters, I've changed how I fight every time!"

I nodded. "He is kind of right," I agreed. "First, it was his mech suit, then it was his fat Iron Man suit and then it was his Nanomachines."

"I guess he has stayed a bit original..." Hikan muttered.

"So, what's it going to be this time?" I asked. "A Megazord?"

Mr. Badd snorted at my remark. "Please. That's a child's toy!"

"But it was an awesome show back then!" Neptune protested.

"Sure. But I have something better," Mr. Badd grinned widely. "You'll enjoy this one. Not only is my will to fight different now, but so are my ideals and training! I'll kill you all right here and now so that I can live peacefully with my daughters!"

"Oh? And what is this new training you have done?" Vert asked.

"Ha...HAHAHAHAHA!" Mr. Badd let out a loud laugh as he tossed his glasses to the side. "Tell me... Have any of you ever eaten human flesh before?"

"Huh?" We stared at him with confusion.

"Have you finally lost your mind?" Blanc asked.

"Far from it, Lady Blanc," Mr. Badd claimed. "Normal food is so dull! The taste of human flesh is just so sweet and juicy!"

"What are you saying!?" I roared. "You ARE a human!"

"You're right..." Mr. Badd admitted as he turned his head back up towards us. "At least, I used to be one!"

"What the..." I stared at him with horror as his left eye began to change form.

His iris was painted over by a crimson color, his sclera turned to a black color, highlighting the now-glowing bloodshot veins. As his eye finished morphing, a glowing crimson aura began to emit from him. Sprouting from the aura, several fox-like red tails formed from them.

"What the hell..." We stared at Mr. Badd in horror.

"Do you like what I did to my body this time?" Mr. Badd asked. "If you can manage to beat me this time, I'll be done forever."

"What even are you!?" Hikan roared.

"Let's just say I got a transplant..." Mr. Badd said. "Now, say goodbye..."

*Shk!* *Thud!*

Before anyone could react, one of the tails sped towards Nepgear. Before it could strike Nepgear, I quickly slowed down time, materialized a blade and slashed at the tail, causing time to resume and the tail to hit the ground.

I stared at the tail in wonder. "What is that...?"

*Slash!*

Without giving me a chance to think about the tail, two more shot towards me. I quickly jumped up to avoid one and ran along the other. As another one shot out towards me, I slashed it away, only to reveal Mr. Badd's face right in front of mine.

*Snap!* *Chomp!* *Thud!*

As I grabbed his neck and snapped it, Mr. Badd bit at my hand before I kicked him away.

"W-What the...hell?" I stared at my bitten hand with shock as it began healing.

Mr. Badd licked the blood at his lips as his neck twisted back into place. "Your flesh tastes amazing! Just give up so that I can eat you!"

"You wish!"

*Clang!* *Bang!* *Crash!* *Crack!*

Turning around, Mr. Badd was met by all the CPUs, now in their HDD forms. As they struck towards Mr. Badd, several tails blocked their strikes. While Mr. Badd was distracted, I quickly dashed towards him and threw a punch towards his face. Like last time, Mr. Badd wasn't phased by my attack and kicked me away.

*Shk!* *Chk!* *Sk!* *Boom! Boom! Boom!* *Clang!*

As I recovered back onto my feet, I was met by the sight of several tails about to stab themselves into my body. I quickly formed several knives and stabbed them into the tails, pinning them to the floor. Backing away, I detonated the knives, blowing the tails into pieces. As blood splattered everywhere, I dashed back towards Mr. Badd. While he was struggling to avoid Neptune and Hikan's swift slashes, Mr. Badd noticed me and, parrying Neptune's blow, grabbed Hikan and flung him towards me.

*Thud!* *Bang!* *CRash!*

Without time to react, Hikan crashed into me, and we landed on the floor. As a tail sped towards us, Nepgear shot it away, and Blanc slammed it to the floor, smashing it to pieces. I quickly got up and helped Hikan to his feet.

*Clang!* *Vrp!* *Splosh!* *Bang!*

As Mr. Badd continued to avoid Neptune's flurry of slashes, Mr Badd, once again, parried Neptune's blow and kicked her away, causing several tails to follow after her. Before the tails could stab Neptune, Plutia coiled her whip around them and tightened around them, causing them to blow up from their built-up pressure. As the tails fell to the ground, Plutia's weapon switched into a blade, and she lunged towards Mr. Badd.

*Bang!* *Ching!*

While Mr. Badd readied himself to block Plutia's attack, Vert came in from above and thrusted her spear towards Mr. Badd's head. Mr. Badd quickly jumped out of the way of Vert's strike, and tails shot up towards her. Nepgear quickly shot the tails away as a blinding light filled the hallway.

*Shk!* *Slash!* *Thud!* *Clang!* *Thud!*

As the light faded, Mr. Badd had a V-shaped cut through his clothes. However, there was no blood. Taking advantage of Plutia's shock, Mr. Badd grabbed Plutia by the wrist and kicked her towards Vert, causing the two of them to crash to the ground. Before Noire could bring her blade down on Mr. Badd, a tail smacked her weapon away and Mr. Badd kicked her towards Neptune.

"Pathetic! I told you I was different this time, didn't I?" Mr. Badd formed a devilish grin. "Oh well. This way, I can dine on all of your flesh! Say goodbye you brat—!"

Before Mr. Badd could finish speaking, his body went limp, and he collapsed to the ground. As he fell, Compa revealed herself to be standing behind him, having injected her serum into him.

"N-No way!" Mr. Badd gritted his teeth. "To think that you would stop me!"

"Not yet..." I slowly dragged myself towards Mr. Badd and focused my energy into my hand, allowing it to take the form of a claw. "I'll rip that thing out of you like before!"

"N-NO!"

*SHK!* *CHK! CHK! CHK!* *SHK!* *SK!*

Blood gushed out as I repeatedly clawed away at his chest. As I ripped out his organs, the red and black color disappeared from Mr Badd's eye, and his eyes returned back to normal.

"What a pain..." I muttered as I began to heal Mr. Badd's original organs.

"It's over," Noire stated as she rose back up. "After this, we just have to save Peashy."

Neptune nodded as she also rose up. "Yeah. All that's left after this is to save P-Ko..."

"Uugh..." As Mr. Badd's organs finished meding themselves back together, Mr. Badd stared up at me. "I lost, didn't I?"

I nodded. "Yeah..."

Mr. Badd stared at me with a confused expression. "Aren't you...going to kill me?"

"Daddy!"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This is the chapter's end! If you understood what reference I made with Mr. Badd this time, then I'll give you credit. If you know what I'm referring to, I'm not that experienced with the story, but I still tried to make the reference. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	113. Chapter 113

Chapter 113

"Squeak!" A voice cried out.

*Ching!*

"Huh?" As I pulled Mr. Badd to his feet and the CPUs reverted back to their original forms, we turned to see who had squeaked out to us. Rushing towards us were the Babybugs.

"P-Please don't hurt our father!" The leading Babybug pleaded.

I stared at the Babybug with confusion. "H-Huh? W-Wait..."

"We just said we weren't going to kill him!" Neptune said, seeming to ignore the Babybug's talking.

"U-Um..." Nepgear stared at the Babybugs with the same shock.

"D-Did they just talk?" Hikan asked.

"Okay, either I'm hallucinating, or I'm actually hearing this right..." Noire muttered.

"Not only have their appearances changed slightly, but so have their speech," Vert muttered.

Hearing Vert's words, I took a closer look at the Babybugs. "You're right..."

Last time, the Babybugs had those big, derpy eyes. Now, their eyes were big, black and beady. Also, they no longer had a fang hanging out of their mouths or big lips.

"Have they always been able to talk?" Blanc wondered.

"Our father taught us!" Another Babybug squeaked.

"Oh. Well, I guess that's convenient for us," Hikan said.

"If you can talk, you should know you don't have to listen this man," Noire stated.

"H-Huh?" The leading Babybug stared at Noire with confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You know, right? Drugs, brainwashing, o-other unmentionable things..." Noire muttered.

"Oh! I knoooow...!" Plutia claimed as she smiled happily. "Maybe it was tooorture...!"

"P-Plutia...maybe you shouldn't say that so happily," Nepgear advised.

"P-Please don't say those things, Lady Plutia!" IF pleaded.

"Oh? You and Compa are still here?" Neptune asked IF.

"You're the one who invited us to come with you," IF stated. "And what do you mean by still?!"

I turned back to the Babybugs. "You're not being forced to follow this man?"

The leading Babybug shook his head. "No, sir! He is very kind to us!"

I scratched my chin and looked between the Babybugs and Mr. Badd. "Could you go into further detail...?"

* * *

"I see..." I stared at the Babybugs in understanding.

"So that's how it was," Hikan muttered.

"Yes," the leading Babybug nodded. "We were all either unwanted by our families, living on the streets or were orphans. We had nowhere to go..."

I nodded. "I know how you feel... Being promised a possible better life before losing your chance at it..."

"That's right," another Babybug agreed. "We didn't know what we were getting into. We were just given CPU Memories and were turned into what you see today."

"But doesn't it suck?" Neptune asked. "You guys have to be icky and gross, and you can't play video games with your midget-stub hands."

"It is true that we did hate it at first," a third Babybug agreed.

"Thaaat meaaanie...!" Plutia glared at Mr. Badd, who was shriveled up into a corner.

"But our father showed us kindness!" The leading Babybug quickly added. "He allowed us to experience human joys that we never could before! He gave us presents on our birthdays and made us delicious food to eat! In a way, he was like a real dad, even if he turned us into this."

"But he turned twenty-two of you into hideous creatures just to create their own CPU to command!" Hikan argued.

"But he's trying his best to turn us back!" Another Babybug said. "We can even talk now!"

"Father said that we would never know true happiness in these forms," a third Babybug said.

"You see, that was actually my request I was going to ask you all..." Mr. Badd said as he rose from his corner and walked towards us. "I had wanted you all to continue my research of turning these children back to normal. That was my final request before I died."

"We're not even going to kill you!" Neptune shouted. "Death isn't nice, man! Geez, you make it sound like you really do want to die!"

"Maybeeee... because he keeps talking about it, he reaaally wants me to kill him...!" Plutia suggested with a happy smile.

"L-Lady Plutia! P-Please don't!" IF begged as she heard Plutia's words.

"Y-You mean...you're not going to kill me? Even after I've done all these terrible things?" Mr. Badd asked.

I shook my head and chuckled. "As long as you also don't try to enhance your body again."

Neptune nodded. "Yeah, they make for interesting chapters and all, but I think it'll get boring to the readers eventually..."

Plutia nodded. "It will get soooo boring...!"

"You all, head off to Lastation's Basilicom," Noire instructed the Babybugs. "I'll inform the staff that you're coming."

The Babybugs stared at Noire with shock. "R-Really!?"

"W-Would you really do that for them?" Mr. Badd asked.

"Don't get the wrong idea!" Noire spouted out. "I'm just doing this so that I can hurry and get the kids back to normal, that's all! Plus, my nation is the most advanced in terms of technology after all!"

"Hey! Hold on!" Blanc spoke up and pushed Noire out of the way. "Lowee is the most advanced in terms of CPU data. So, we'll help provide research!"

"I'll also assist," Vert chimed in. "We at Leanbox can provide financial support!"

"Yeah! And Planeptune will—" Neptune stopped her offering and turned to Nepgear. "Um, Nep Jr.? What can we do?"

Nepgear stared back at her sister with a worried look. "D-Don't look at me! You and Plutia are the CPUs after all!"

I sighed. "I can't really do much. But I can occasionally visit them and offer any possible assistance."

Hikan nodded. "Yeah, that's pretty much all I can do too."

"I'm not the best nurse in my class, but I can still be their nurse!" Compa added.

"I can make them reaaaally cute, adorable stuffed animalssss...!" Plutia said.

"T-Thank you...everyone..." Mr. Badd thanked before sniffling.

"Now, head off to Lastation's Basilicom!" Noire commanded.

"Alright," Mr. Badd nodded and, picking himself up, began to walk with the Babybugs towards Lastation. "Thank you all..."

"Man, that just turned into filler," Neptune muttered. "But at least we can go ahead and save P-Ko now!"

I nodded. "Right! Let's go!"

Plutia formed a wide grin. "Gooooo...!"

* * *

"Hey!" Neptune pointed ahead, towards Peashy. "There's P-Ko!"

After a bit of navigating through the long hallways of the Seven Sages' base, we found Peashy waiting at the end of the corridor.

"Hey! Get back here, Neptune!" Noire shouted after Neptune as she ran up to Peashy.

"…" Peashy, who was in her HDD form, just stood there, with her eyes closed and unphased.

"Hey! P-Ko! It's me, Neptuna!" Neptune shouted in Peashy's face.

"…" Peashy, however, remained unphased and silent.

"Pea, did you really forget us?" Compa murmured.

"…" Peashy continued to remian silent.

"Peashhhy... You better come back home with us...!" Plutia said. "Or else..."

*Ching!*

"Eep!" IF jumped back as Plutia switched into her HDD form. "Oh no!"

"Oh geez! She's here again!" Hikan stared at Plutia with horror. "She really has started coming off her leash..."

"Again, at least she's on our side," I pointed out.

"Oh Peashy... For being such a naughty girl, I'll have to punish you real well..." Plutia said with a wide grin.

"…" Peashy remained unphased, even to Plutia's HDD form.

"Incredible... She's not even responding to Sadie..." Neptune muttered.

"Wait, hold on..." Blanc stepped up to Peashy.

"Hey! I said to get back!" Noire shouted.

"It's fine," Blanc pointed towards Peashy's face. "Look."

"Huh?" I took a step towards Peashy and stared closely into her face. "Wait..."

Blanc nodded. "Yeah, she's asleep."

"Zzz...*snore*…..zzz..." Instead of remaining silent this time, Peashy let out a loud snore.

"You mean to tell me she was actually just asleep?" Hikan questioned.

"Are you serious!?" IF asked.

"Hey, P-Ko!" Neptune shouted into Peashy's ear. "Wake up! Wake up!"

"H-Huh?" Peashy's eyes fluttered open before she began rubbing them. She then let out a yawn. "H-Huh..? O-Oh...the CPUs..."

"Yo! Wake up girl!" Neptune shouted. "Don't just sleep on us!"

"Mmgh... Zzzzz...*snore*…...zzz..." Peashy ignored Neptune's words and dozed back to sleep. "Five...more minutes..."

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Neptune shouted.

"Don't just go back to sleep!" Noire shouted at Peashy. "Wake up!"

"H-Huh?" Peashy's eyes drifted back open. "B-But I'm tired..."

"That maybe the case for you, however this is an exciting event in the story. We're supposed to be having a fight scene," Vert stated.

"Oh! That's right!" Peashy's eyes snapped open. "I have to go defeat those wicked, bad CPUs!"

"At least she woke up..." I muttered.

"Ha...HAHAHAHAHA!" Suddenly, Plutia began to laugh loudly. "Man, I haven't laughed that hard in ages..."

"U-Um..." Neptune stared at Plutia for a second before turning to Nepgear. "Nep Jr., can you translate what Sadie just said?"

Nepgear shook her head. "I-I don't think that I can..."

"Peashy! Please come back to us!" Hikan shouted.

Vert let out a sigh before shaking her head. "We already tried this once before. Her memories have been wiped clean. We can't get her back that way."

"Pea... Do you really not remember us?" Compa asked.

"Peashy, please come home..." IF begged.

"Stop calling me stuff like that!" Peashy whined. "My name isn't P-Ko, or Pea, or Peashy! My name is Yellow Heart!"

"It's not going to work," Blanc stated. "We have to try a different method."

"Neptune, didn't you say you had a plan before?" Hikan asked.

Neptune nodded and smiled triumphantly. "Yepperoni! My plan is genius!"

"Then do it!" Noire barked.

"Geez, Noire. Don't get so huffy already," Neptune muttered. "It's just that there may be a catch..."

I cocked my head at Neptune. "A catch? What do you mean?"

Neptune let out a dry laugh as she twiddled with her thumbs. "W-Well..."

*Ching!*

"For my amazing plan to work, we'll need to weaken P-Ko first," Neptune explained as she transformed into her HDD form. "Meaning, we have to fight her."

Hikan shrugged. "I don't see the problem here. We've already fought her plenty of times before. Although, we did keep losing..."

*Ching!*

Vert shook her head as she, along with the rest of the CPUs, entered their HDD forms. "The problem here isn't that we just have to fight her. The problem is that she feels much more powerful compared to the first time we fought her."

"That damn robot!" Noire balled up a fist. "He lied right to our faces!"

"Wow, Noire," Hikan shook his head at Noire. "How many times have you been tricked by that guy, huh?"

"At least it wasn't just me this time," Noire retorted.

"Stop ignoring me!" Peashy shouted. "Rrgh...! You've made me mad! Now I'll beat you guys up!"

"No," Neptune materialized her katana and got into a stance. "I will win. P-Ko, don't worry. I'll save you soon enough!"

"Oh?" Plutia formed a wide grin. "Maybe we should punish her after this..."

"N-NO!" IF shouted.

"You can worry about that later," I said. "For now, let's weaken her so that Neptune can put her plan into effect!"

"I'll beat you all up!" Peashy shouted.

"We'll save you. Don't worry..." I murmured as I activated Level Three. "Hang in there, Peashy!"

We all materialized our weapons and charged towards Peashy. "GO!"

*Bang!*

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And this chapter is now done! Do you think that Peashy will be saved? If you already know what happens in the original story, don't spoil it. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	114. Chapter 114

Chapter 114

*Bang!* *Clang!*

Plutia, Neptune and I all rushed towards Peashy from three different angles. Reaching her first, I slashed towards her. Quickly, she materialized her claws and parried my slash, leaving me stunned. Before I could do anything, Peashy grabbed me by my collar and hurled me towards the incoming Neptune and Plutia.

*Vrrrp!* *Slash!* *Thud!* *CRASH!*

They continued to charge towards Peashy while they dodged to the side to avoid me. Nearing the ground, I caught myself with my hands and bounced back to my feet, just in time to see Neptune and Plutia go after Peashy.

Peashy, upon noticing Neptune and Plutia, lunged towards them. Reaching them first, Peashy jabbed her claws towards Neptune and Plutia's faces. Neptune quickly stepped back, allowing Plutia to coil her whip blade tightly around Peashy's arms, binding her arms. While Peashy struggled to break from Plutia's grip, Neptune lunged towards Peashy and slashed at her chest, creating blood and causing Peashy to stagger back. Peashy fell to the floor, only to be met by a hard kick from Plutia, sending her crashing into the wall.

*Clang!* *Bang!* *Clang!*

As Plutia's whip untangled itself and retracted, Peashy stood back up and, increasing her speed, lunged towards the two of them. As Plutia and Neptune got ready to strike, Peashy parried their blows, kicked Plutia into a wall and threw a punch at Neptune that caused her to fly towards me. I quickly caught Neptune, set her down and lunged towards Peashy.

Before Peashy could smash her claw into my face, I slowed down time and slipped behind her. As I resumed time and got ready to slash her, Peashy quickly ducked and sweeped at my feet, causing me to fall. Peashy then grabbed me by my leg and, before she throw me, was kicked away by Hikan, dropping me in the process.

*Shk!* *Crack!* *BOOM!*

I quickly got back to my feet before Hikan dashed towards Peashy. As Hikan neared Peashy, Peashy lunged towards him and swiped at him. Before the claws could touch him, Hikan quickly jumped back, causing Peashy to slash thin air and begin to fall towards the ground. Taking advantage of this, Hikan kicked Peashy's chin and sent her flying up into the air before jumping into the air, grabbing her, and slamming her down into the floor.

*Crash!* *Clang!* *Bang!* *Thud!*

As Hikan let out a sigh, Peashy suddenly grabbed Hikan by his feet, sprang back to her feet and slammed Hikan into a wall. Following that, she grabbed him by the collar and threw him towards the ground. As Peashy threw Hikan, Blanc and Vert quickly swooped in behind Peashy and struck at her. But Peashy quickly reacted on instincts and blocked their strikes, pushing her back against a wall.

*Thud!* *Crash!*

While Vert and Blanc rushed at Peashy with their weapons ready to strike her, Peashy quickly knocked their weapons away, grabbed Vert and threw her towards Blanc, causing the two of them to skid to the floor. Before either Blanc or Vert could get up, Peashy smashed both of their faces into the floor.

*Bang!* *Clang!*

As Peashy got ready to kick either Blanc or Vert's head, Peashy jumped back and avoided a laser beam from Nepgear. Instantly, Peashy switched her targets and rushed towards Nepgear. As Nepgear got ready to defend herself from Peashy's incoming jab, I slipped in front of Nepgear and parried Peashy's strike, causing her to stagger once again. Taking the opportunity, Nepgear stepped up to Peashy, kicked her away and allowed a laser beam to follow after Peashy.

*Crash!* *Boom!* *Thud!*

As Peashy slammed against another wall before the beam blew up, we all grouped back together while we waited for the debris and smoke to subside. However, before the smoke cleared, Peashy emerged from the shadows and lunged towards me. But before Peashy could strike any of us, Noire quickly kicked Peashy away.

I turned back to everyone as I got into a stance. "Everyone! Strike her all at once!"

*CRASH!* *BOOM!*

As I jumped towards Peashy and brought my blade down, so did everyone else, creating an impacting force strong enough to create a crater beneath Peashy.

"AGGGH!"

We quickly jumped away as Peashy let out a cry. "I think...we did it..." Nepgear claimed.

Blanc tisked. "Of course we did! We've already beaten this phony once before!"

"No, that's not it," Hikan claimed.

I nodded as I watched Peashy force herself back to her feet. "Hikan's right. If Anonydeath really did build another energy source, then she would have been as strong as when we first fought her. But she wasn't."

Vert nodded. "I agree. Her powers didn't feel limitless this time."

"Who cares?" Noire asked. "It worked out for us!"

"Uugh..." Peashy let out a moan. "I c-can't...move..."

*Ching!*

"UUGH!" Peashy let out a loud groan as she reverted back to her normal form and fell to the ground. "No! I lost!"

I stared at the normal form of Peashy, the Peashy we had all grown up with. "Peashy..."

"She looks exactly like when we last saw her," IF muttered.

Hikan nodded. "Yeah. That's because that's the age when she became a CPU, so she can't really age."

"Pea!" Compa ran up to Peashy while IF followed close behind. "Pea, is that really you!?"

Peashy stared at Compa with confusion. "Pea? Who's Pea?"

"That's your name, you dummy!" IF said.

"Nuh-uh!" Peashy shook her head. "My name is Yellow Heart!"

Compa stared at Peashy with a saddened expression. "Peashy... Do you really not remember us?"

"All I know are mommy and daddy!" Peashy claimed.

"But you were with us before them!" IF stated.

"I really don't know!" Peashy whined.

"Enough, you two," Hikan said. "We already tried, and it didn't work."

"B-But—"

"It's alright," I reassured them before turning my head towards Neptune. "Neptune has a plan, right?"

Neptune nodded. "Yes. With this, we'll bring back P-Ko."

*Ching!*

Plutia and Neptune reverted back to their original forms before pulling out a box from God-knows-where. "Ta-da! This box contains five memories we've collected with P-Ko!"

I stared at them with a confused look. "W-Wait. Isn't that all the stuff from that one day?"

Plutia formed a wide grin. "Yuuuup...!"

"How do you plan to restore her memories with that?" Noire asked.

Neptune also formed a wide grin. "You'll see..."

"I was never told about this..." Nepgear muttered.

"Here, take this, Compa," Neptune said as she handed Compa her old, giant toy syringe. "It's dangerous to go alone! Take this!"

"H-Huh?" Compa took her syringe and stared at it with confusion. "M-My old toy syringe? W-What do I do with this?"

Plutia smiled. "So...you take it and chase Peashy aroound with it!"

Compa's eyes widened. "W-What?!"

"Please!" Neptune begged. "It's for P-Ko's sake!"

"W-Well...if it's for Peashy," Compa turned to Peashy. "Peashy, come here! It's time for shots!"

Peashy stared at the syringe in horror. "S-Shots!? Oh no!" Peashy quickly scrambled to her feet and began running away from Compa. "AHHH!"

"Get back here!" Compa shouted as she chased after Peashy. "It'll make you feel better!"

Neptune formed a wide smile. "Yes! P-Ko may have forgotten about the times we've played with her, but her body still remembers the awful pain of Compa's giant syringe!"

I stared at Neptune with a worried expression. "Isn't it a bad thing that she's traumatized by this?"

Hikan shrugged. "If it helps get her memories back, I'll let it pass."

"Next up...!" Peashy rummaged through the box, pulled out a sketchbook and handed it to IF. "Here you goooo, Iffy...!"

"H-Huh? A sketchbook?" IF stared at the sketchbook with confusion. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Just read what's in it!" Neptune instructed.

"O-Okay..." IF timidly opened the sketchbook. "My right hand can split the galaxy...in two when f-filled with...G-G-Gaia's...might..."

I watched IF as she became more frightened as she continued reading from her old sketchbook. "T-This is...!"

As Compa stopped chasing Peashy, Peashy waddled over to IF and stared at the sketchbook in wonder. "Wow! That sounds so cool!"

"Keep reading, Iffy!" Neptune said.

"I-I can't read this!" IF whined. "This stuff is so embarrassing!"

"But it's for Peaaashy...!" Plutia stated.

"Fine..." IF let out a grumble before looking back down at the sketchbook. "I shall use the fallen angel's wings...t-to whirl up the winds of the unholy...war...!"

"WOW! That's so cool!" Peashy stated.

"Poor girl..." Blanc stared at IF with sympathy. "To have to read your embarrassing old story in front of everyone..."

Hikan whirled his head towards Neptune. "What's next?"

Neptune turned to Nepgear and grinned widely. "Nepgear! It's your turn!"

"I-It is?" Nepgear stared blankly at Neptune. "W-What do I get?"

"Neppy Jr., you get noooothing...!" Plutia said with a happy smile.

"W-What!?" Nepgear stared at Plutia with a shocked look.

"Oh, this reminds me of something..." Peashy put her hand to her chin while she thought. "Hmm... This reminds me of something about "getting the shaft"….right?"

"Is this really how I'm treated?!" Nepgear murmured.

A textbox suddenly appeared in front of us all.

 **Nepgear has mastered the "Bad Treated" Ability**

"Not another one..." Nepgear let out a sigh and slumped over. "I give up..."

"What's next?" I asked while I patted Nepgear's head in an attempt to comfort her.

"Me! The main protagonist, Neptune of Neptunas!" Neptune ran up to P-Ko and pulled out a cup of lukewarm pudding. "Lookie here, P-Ko!"

"Oh! Pudding!" Peashy stared at the pudding with a happy expression.

"This isn't just any type of pudding. Lookie here," Neptune pointed towards the pudding seal. "It's got "Nep's" scrawled on it. You used to cry and whine when you didn't get to eat my pudding!"

Peashy stared at the pudding with fascination. "Neptuna's pudding..."

Neptune let out a gasp. "P-Ko!"

I spun my head to Plutia. "Keep going!"

"Okaaay...!" Plutia waddled up to Peashy and pulled out her old stuffed animal. "Look, Peashy. It's your old stuffed animal I made for you."

"This is mine?" Peashy wondered as she stared at the stuffed animal.

"Yuuup...! You would always ask me to fix it. I kept it for you. I even fixed the head when you riiipped it off..." Plutia said.

"Ploot...made m-my...stuffed animal..." Peashy's eyes suddenly widened, and she staggered back, clutching her head. "AGH! My head feels funny!"

"We're almost there!" Hikan stared at Neptune and Plutia. "We need one more thing!"

Neptune nodded and pulled out the last item from the box. "Let's get P-Ko back!"

As Neptune flashed a piece of paper for Peashy to see, Peashy stared at it in wonder. "W-What is this?"

"It's a drawing that you made of all of us, you dummy!" Neptune said. "You drew that with your dirty mittens. You poured all of your artness into that to make that drawing of everyone!"

Peashy gasped. "That's right!" Peashy began to point towards the various scribbles on the drawing. "There's Nepgear, and Ploot, and Sickle, and Pecan, and Iffy, and Compa, and Histy, and..."

Neptune inched closer to Peashy. "C'mon! Say my name P-Ko!"

"I remember!" Peashy pointed towards the center of the drawing. "And there's Neptuna!"

"P-Ko!" Neptune gasped at Peashy.

"AGGH!" Peashy crumpled to the ground and clutched her head.

"Peashy!" We watched Peashy with horror.

"Maybe we pushed too far?" Nepgear thought aloud.

"P-Ko?" Neptune took a step towards Peashy.

"AGH!" Peashy looked back up towards Neptune and grinned. "Take this, Neptuna!"

*Thud!*

"UUGH!" Neptune let out a revolting sound as Peashy headbutted her gut. "I-It's been a while since I've had you do that..."

"Peeeashy...!" Tears began to stream down Plutia's face as she and Neptune hugged Peashy.

"H-Hey! Why are you hugging me so tightly!" Peashy asked as the girls hugged her tightly.

"It's because we've missed you..." I muttered as tears began streaming down our faces.

"H-Huh? Now everyone's crying..." Peashy stared at us with a worried look. "What happened?"

"You happened, you dummy!" Neptune said as she smiled at Peashy.

"We're just glad you're back, Peashy!" Nepgear stated.

"Welcome home, Peashy," Hikan said.

Peashy pulled away from Neptune and Plutia. "Yep, I'm home!"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And here's a pretty good end to the chapter! After this, there will be maybe one or two filler chapters put in for the story of Arc Five. We're also approaching the end of Arc Three soon, meaning we'll soon be getting to Arc Four. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	115. Chapter 115

Chapter 115

"Hiiisty...! We're baaack...!" Plutia called out as we returned back to the Basilicom.

"Hm?" Nepgear looked around the living room as Mini-Histoire swiftly floated towards us. "Histoire, where did everyone else go?"

"Abnes and Warechu left over an argument, while Copypaste left because of something about sweating youth...(-_-;)" Mini-Histoire quickly shook away her thoughts and looked through our group. "That doesn't matter though! Where's Peashy? Is she alright!?"

Plutia nodded. "Yuuup...!" She pointed towards Peashy as I let Peashy hop off my back.

Mini-Histoire let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I'm so glad to see Peashy again!(＝^▽^＝)" Mini-Histoire said as Peashy ran up to her.

"Yay! Histy is still so tiny!" Peashy grabbed Mini-Histoire and hugged her tightly, crushing Mini-Histoire against Peashy's chest.

"P-Peashy...! Y-You're hugging...too...tightly!(ﾟДﾟ;)" Mini-Histoire coughed out as Peashy continued smushing Mini-Histoire against her chest.

"P-Ko, that's enough! Let go of Mini-Histy before you pop her eyes out!" Neptune demanded as she pried Peashy off of Mini-Histoire.

"I-It's...quite alright... I-I'm just glad to see...Peashy again...(´ロ`)" Mini-Histoire reassured us as she breathed heavily on the floor. "S-She certainly...has gotten stronger since...last time..."

Hikan nodded. "That may have something with Peashy becoming a CPU."

I nodded. "How about we have conversation first to discuss the future?"

Noire nodded. "That would probably be a good idea."

While Hikan, Nepgear, IF, Noire, Vert, Blanc, Mini-Histoire and I all gathered around in a circle, Neptune, Plutia, Peashy and Compa went off to do their own things.

Noire cleared her throat. "Our main threat is gone now and so are the Seven Sages."

Vert nodded. "Yes. That means that we should all probably return to competing against one another..."

Blanc nodded. "True, but I don't really want to fight you guys anymore."

I nodded. "It just doesn't feel right having to fight amongst ourselves."

"Yes! Compa's delicious cake is ready!" Neptune cheered as we all turned towards her.

"Oooh! Cake! I want some cake!" Peashy cried as she bounced up and down.

"This isn't just any ordinary cake, squirt!" Neptune said as they each took a slice. "This cake is so good, that it'll melt your tongue off!"

"WHAT! I-It'll melt my tongue!?" Peashy stuck out her tongue and stared at it worriedly.

"Please ignore my sister!" Nepgear begged. "I'm sorry for her randomness!"

Blanc shrugged. "We're used to it."

"Since we all don't really have any problems anymore, I suggest you all return to your normal CPU duties( ´ ▽ ` )," Mini-Histoire suggested.

"Okaaay...! Now it's time to relax...!" Plutia said as we joined back up with the others.

"HUH!?" Hikan stared at the cake with bulging eyes. "How did you guys finish all that cake during that short conversation we had!?"

Neptune quickly pointed a finger towards Peashy. "It was all P-Ko! She had like five slices!"

"Nuh-uh!" Peashy stuck out her tongue and held up three fingers. "I only had...one, two...four! Four Slices!"

"P-Ko, you dingus!" Neptune chuckled at Peashy's claim. "Three comes after two!"

"Plutia, you better not try slacking off on your work again...(-_-)" Mini-Histoire warned her sternly.

Plutia shook her head. "I'm nooot...! I just want to relax while I work..."

"That's the same thing as slacking!" Noire pointed out.

"Pluuus... Neppy and Neppy Jr. will have to go home the faster we work...!" Plutia stated.

Nepgear and Neptune stared at Plutia with saddened expressions. "Plutia..."

I nodded. "Although we do need to get home, I do agree with Plutia. If we were to just go home right after we got back Peashy, then that would be such a terrible thing to do."

"But you four are facing a far greater crisis back in your dimension,( ﾟдﾟ)" Mini-Histoire pointed out. "Getting you all home should be top priority."

"Yeah, but we just got Peashy back," Hikan stated. "It would hurt her more than anyone if we just suddenly left."

"Pleease Hiiisty...!" Plutia begged.

Mini-Histoire let out a sigh. "I suppose we all do need a break...(￣Д￣；)"

Plutia, Hikan and I all smiled brightly. "You mean...!"

Mini-Histoire nodded. "Get some rest. We all need it.(^-^)"

"Thanks soooo much Histy...!" Plutia thanked.

I grinned and glanced over at Nepgear. "Hey, Nepgear..."

"H-Huh? What is it?" Nepgear asked with a curious expression.

"Kyaah!"

I quickly grabbed her by the wrist and dashed out of the door. "Let's go on a date!"

"W-Wait!" Nepgear called after me.

"See you guys back at five!" I called back.

* * *

"Goodness..." Nepgear crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks as she took her seat opposite of me. "I can't believe you would drag me out to this so suddenly. That was so cruel!"

"But come on! We haven't been on a date in ages," I stated. "After Peashy became a CPU, we didn't have a single break."

Nepgear out a sigh. "I guess you're right. Still..."

I also let out a sigh. "Look, I'm sorry, okay?"

"Mmgh..." Nepgear squinted her eyes and leaned over the table, examining me. After what felt like an eternity of her awkward staring, she sat back down with a smile. "I guess I can't stay mad at you..."

I returned her smile. "Thanks."

"By the way..." Nepgear examined the area around us. "Where exactly are we?"

"We're at a grill," I answered.

After a ton of running and pleading from Nepgear, I had managed to guide the two of us towards a restaurant with an outdoor sitting area. While the restaurant had everything else any other restaurant would have—doormat, menus, marble flooring, booths, fancy lighting and such—it also had grill tables, which was what made it unique.

It was one of those restaurants with grill tables, allowing you to grill your own food instead of having cooks make it. Although it was easier that way, preparing the food with your own two hands, not only felt satisfying, but also tasted better.

"Hey, Silver?" I snapped from my thoughts and turned to Nepgear, who was staring at me worriedly.

"Yeah, what's up?" I asked with a friendly smile.

"Shouldn't there be menus or a waiter or somebody to take our order or drinks?" Nepear asked with concern.

I shook my head as a lady placed down a plate filled with vegetables and various assortments of meat, along with a pot of green tea and two tea cups. I nodded and thanked her before she left. "See, Nepgear? I already made the reservations to come here, so we don't need to spend time deciding on our order."

Nepgear looked over at me with a funny look. "But it's just raw meat and uncooked vegetables. Either way, we'd still have to cook it."

I let out a chuckle. "You could at least try to play along..."

"O-Oh! S-Sorry!" Nepgear apologized.

I shook my head and smiled. "It's fine," I reassured her as I turned the grill on. I then took the pair of chopsticks and began placing slices of meat onto the grill, letting it cook.

"By the way, Silver," Nepgear spoke up as she watched me place the meat and vegetables. "How'd you already know to pick a reservation today?"

I let out a dry laugh as I placed the last slice of meat onto the grill. "I actually didn't know that we were going to save Peashy today. Yesterday I actually placed this reservation for today. I didn't know we'd save Peashy though. I guess it just kind of worked out..."

Nepgear frowned. "You mean you didn't know if we'd actually go on this date?"

I shook my head. "Nope. If we hadn't, I would have lost some money."

Nepgear let out a groan as she poured tea into the two cups. "Geez Silver..."

"Hey, at least it all worked out in the end, right?" I pointed out.

Nepgear smiled slightly and handed me my cup of tea. "I guess so..."

"Here," I picked off one of the grilled slices of meat, blew on it and offered it to Nepgear.

Nepgear's cheeks reddened at my gesture. "A-Are you trying to feed me?!"

"Is there anyone else here to feed?" I asked rhetorically.

"N-No... But..." Nepgear bowed her head as her red cheeks deepened in shade. "I-It's just so sudden.."

I formed a wide grin. "Come on, I'll feed you. Say "ahhh"…"

"Ahhh..." Nepgear opened her mouth wide and closed her eyes. I slowly placed the slice of meat into her mouth and pulled the chopsticks out, allowing her to chew. "Mmm..."

I stared at her with a curious expression. "Is it good?"

"…" Nepgear gulped down her food and smiled brightly at me. "It is!"

"Does that mean I can feed you again?" I asked.

Nepgear let out a giggle and shook her head. "Nope."

"Huh?" I watched her with a confused expression. "Why not?"

"Because..." Nepgear quickly snatched the chopsticks away from me. "I'm going to feed you this time!"

I frowned at her proposal. "How come you're fine with feeding me but not with me feeding you?"

"Because you're usually the one treating me," Nepgear stated. "I want to do at least one thing to pay you back."

I let out a sigh and nodded. "Alright. Do with me as you please, m'lady."

Nepgear formed a wide grin at my words, plucked up a slice of an onion and offered it to me. "Here, say "ahhh"…"

"Ahhh..." I opened my mouth and allowed Nepgear to place the onion slice into my mouth. As she pulled away, I began chewing and allowed the flavors to dance around on my tongue. I smiled and finished eating before opening my mouth. "Wow, that was good."

Nepgear giggled. "I know! The food tastes so great!"

I shook my head. "No, not the food. I mean that you're great."

"S-Silver!" Nepgear blushed wildly and turned away. "Don't say that! It was a terrible line anyways..."

I let out a laugh as I began setting the grilled meats and vegetables back onto the plate. "Sorry, sorry. I couldn't help it."

"Geez..." Nepgear puffed out her cheeks before turning back to me."Can we just eat our food?"

"Yeah. Sure, sure," I said before taking a sip out of my tea. "Let's eat!"

* * *

"That was a good time," Nepgear said as she clung to my arm while the two of us walked down the busy streets of Planeptune. "It was really fun!"

I nodded. "It really did take off all that pent-up stress from those ten years."

After the two of us had finished eating, we had gone to a toy store. The reason for going to the toy store was simply to buy the giant toy robot on display so that Nepgear could dismantle it for parts. However, understandably, the store keeper refused to let us buy it to dismantle it. After that, we watched a movie before leaving to walk down the Planeptune streets.

"I still wanted that robot..." Nepgear murmured as we continued walking.

I let out a sigh. "When we get back to Hyper Dimension, I promise I'll help you finish that robot we were building."

"Alright..." Nepgear flashed me a slight smile.

"AGH!"

As the streets rang with screams and the people began to clear the area, Nepgear and I spun our heads back towards the source of the cry.

Standing over a dead body, was a black, hooded man with a skull-like mask and black robes. In his left hand, he held a bloody, silver dagger.

Upon noticing us, he glanced over at me. "Get out of here, unless you want to die..."

I quickly activated Level Two and motioned Nepgear back. "I could say the same to you..."

"I can't let you interfere. Sorry, but this is where you die," the man raised his dagger and got ready to attack me.

As I stopped time and materialized a dagger, he ran towards me. "What the hell!?"

*Clang!*

I quickly blocked his blade down. "H-How can you...even move? I froze time!"

The man tisked. "I could say the same to you..."

We resumed time and jumped back. "Tell me, boy. Do you have the Outsider's Mark?"

I stared blankly into his mask. "I...don't even know what that is..."

"Then how can you stop time like that?" The man asked.

"I'm a Devil..." I answered. "What about you?"

The man flashed me a mark engraved into his hand. It glowed an orange color. "This is the Outsider's Mark."

"That mark looks kind of similar to my tattoo..." I muttered.

The man stared at me with a confused expression. "You're tattoo?"

I waved it off. "Long story. Look, why are you even here?"

"Simple," the man nodded towards the dead man at his feet. "This man was tied with the Seven Sages."

"Are you against the Seven Sages too?" Nepgear asked.

The man turned to her and nodded. "I am. What about you two?"

"We've been clearing their main members. Now, there really isn't a threat," I stated.

The man sighed and shook his head. "You're wrong. You still haven't defeated the head member, the strongest member also."

"You mean Rei Ryghts?" Nepgear questioned.

The man nodded. "She doesn't look like it, but she is the strongest member out there."

"If she really is as strong as you say, then can you train me to grow strong enough to stop her?" I asked.

The man nodded. "Why the hell not? I'll place my faith in you."

I nodded. "Thanks."

"By the way, the name's Corvo," the man introduced. "Nice to meet you."

I nodded. "Pleasure," I turned back to Nepgear. "I'll be back later tonight. Could you head home first?"

Nepgear nodded. "Alright."

I watched Nepgear fade out of my sight before turning back to Corvo. "Alright, let's do this..."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And this chapter is done! There will be one more filler chapter after this before we wrap up Arc Three. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	116. Chapter 116

Chapter 116

After a bit of travelling, Corvo and I ended up in the mountain range, like in every movie ever.

"Alright," Corvo turned back to me once we reached the peak. "Tell me what you're capable of."

I nodded. "I have two Devils inside of me. One can amplify the capability of my body, while the other one allows me to create anything from it's energy, heal myself and allows me to scan areas for entities."

"I see..." Corvo nodded his head as he continued to stare at me. "Then I'll also assume that ability which allows you to bend time is also due to yours Devils?"

I nodded. "Exactly."

"Alright," Corvo contniued to stare at me through the holes in his mask. "I won't have to teach you too much then."

"What are you even going to teach me?" I asked. "We have until midnight before I have to get back."

I know," Corvo stated. "And you'll also probably never see me again afterwards. Meaning, I'll teach you the most useful abilities to you. You'll have to try really hard if you want to master these skills though."

I nodded and cracked my knuckles. "I'm ready!"

"Alright," Corvo picked up a stick and waved it for me to see. "When I chuck this, I want you to catch it and bring it back, all within four seconds."

I grinned widely. "That sounds easy enough!"

He shook his head. "The only catch is that you can't use any of your Devils' abilities. Just your body."

I stared at him with my mouth agape. "You're joking right?!"

Corvo shook his head. "Watch."

He chucked the stick about twenty feet away. Before I could say anything, I looked back at Corvo to find the stick already back in his hands. "HUH!?"

He wagged the stick in front of me. "I told you it was possible."

"But how'd you run that fast?!" I questioned. "What are you!? The Flash!?"

He shook his head. "It's an ability known as Blink."

I blinked blankly at him. "Blink?"

He nodded. "Did you notice how far I threw the stick?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, around twenty feet, right?"

He nodded. "Blink is basically a teleportation ability. It allows the user to teleport instantly to where I look. However, it's only limited to twenty feet."

I stared at the stick. "So that's how you managed to get the stick back in a few seconds..."

"It's not that hard to learn this ability," Corvo claimed. "All you really have to know how to do is focus."

"Okay, then how do you do it?" I asked.

"I run on a supply of energy and stamina like everyone else," Corvo jabbed a finger to my thorax. "However, you're not limited to that as much with your regeneration abilities and your Devils' abilities. Although, you should try learning this on your own, in case you one day lose your Devils. How this works is that you need to try to focus your energy towards the area you're looking at. If you can do that, it should be fine."

I stared at Corvo blankly. "That's all I have to do?"

He nodded. "If you can figure something that easy out, you should have no problem mastering Blink."

"Alright," I glanced over at a nearby tree. "…"

I focused my vision to one point and began to force my energy to focus on that position. Then, as I blinked, I emerged at where I was looking at only seconds ago. "Woah..."

Corvo crossed his arms. "That's essentially what you want to do. Now..." Corvo quickly flung the stick away. "Go get the stick."

I quickly focused my energy towards the landing point of the stick and blinked. As I was teleported towards the stick's landing point, I quickly grabbed it and blinked back to Corvo. I wagged the stick in front of him. "Did I pass?"

He nodded. "That wasn't too shabby..."

"What's next?" I asked, tossing the stick to the side.

"Here," Corvo stepped to the side and allowed me to see a large boulder close to the edge of the mountain. "Without using your body, pushed this boulder off."

"U-Um..." I stepped in front of the boulder and, placing my hand in front of the boulder, pulsed out as much energy as I could.

*Boom!*

However, instead of forcing the boulder off the mountain, it shattered into millions of pieces. "I-I...u-um..."

Corvo shook his head and went to a nearby boulder as large as the last. "Watch this."

Corvo placed his hand in front of the boulder and pulsed, causing the wind to pick up and blast the boulder off the mountain's edge.

"What was that?" I asked as the wind subsided.

"That's called Windblast," Corvo shrugged. "I believe the name is pretty self-explanatory."

I nodded. "You blast a gale of wind at your target, right?"

He nodded. "This blast is strong enough to kill people by the force of the blast's impact and shred down doors."

"That's some pretty strong wind..." I muttered. "How do you use it?"

"You can manipulate energy, even your own," Corvo stated. "Many just don't know it."

"So is that how I'm going to learn this ability?" I asked.

"Here," Corvo nodded towards a large tree. "If you can knock this thing over, then you should be able to master it."

"How do I do it though?" I asked.

"You already know how to manipulate your Devils' energy. It shouldn't be that different manipulating your own energy," Corvo claimed.

I nodded. "Alright..."

I stepped up to the large tree towering over me and placed my hand in front of me. I closed my eyes and focused my energy up into my hand, imagining a ball of wind formed.

*FWOOSH!* *CRASH!*

As I pulsed out my energy, I opened my eyes to witness the tree fall over with a loud crash. "Geez..."

"You're really learning this fast," Corvo commented as he stared at the tree. "Now, go push off that boulder."

I nodded before looking up at the sky. "I have a few hours left to do this..."

Stepping in front of another boulder, I focused energy to my hand and imagined it was wind once again before pulsing it out. The boulder was sent flying off the mountain, as if it had no weight to it.

"Good..." Corvo muttered. "Hey."

"Hm?" I turned back to him. "…!"

*BOOM!*

Instead of seeing Corvo a few feet in front of me, I was met by the sight of another boulder. Relying on instincts, I pulsed out another blast of wind, shattering the rock into thousands of pieces.

"...Good job..." Corvo continued muttering. "That's all you really need to learn."

"R-Really?" I turned back to Corvo. "That's it?"

He nodded. "These are just abilities that are possible for me to teach you. Hypothetically, if you lose your Devils' abilities, you should still be able to use these in case of an emergency. All you really have left to do is perfect these techniques. You learned them faster than anyone before."

I nodded. "Then I guess our time is up."

Corvo let out a chuckle. "Of course. However, I believe you can stop Rei. As long as you remember that you have people always there to support you, you can overcome anything."

I smiled. "Thanks."

Corvo nodded one final time before disappearing into a black puff of smoke. I let out a sigh and stared at the rising moon. "I made promises and met people here that I cared about. As long as I remember that, I should be fine once _that_ happens..."

After another minute of staring at the moon, I began my jog back to the Basilicom.

* * *

I quickly opened the door leading to the Basilicom door. "Hey, I'm hom—"

"There you are!" Neptune got in my face and squinted her eyes at me.

I stared at her, confused. "U-Um..."

"Where did you go?!" Neptune asked with a serious tone. "And why did you leave Nep Jr. all alone?"

I tried to defend myself. "I went to go train, and Nepgear seemed alright with—"

"Don't give me that crap!" Neptune jabbed a finger into my thorax, causing me to stumble back. "She's been so sad! You better apologize before we start eating dinner, buster!"

"Dinner is ready!" Compa called out to us from the kitchen.

Neptune continued to stare at me while she walked towards the dining table. "Time's ticking..."

"R-Right..." I nodded before gulping.

I was left with a few minutes to help out Nepgear, so I had quickly dashed towards Plutia's room, assuming Nepgear would be in there. When I opened the door, I found Nepgear murmuring to herself on Plutia's bed while she was in a fetal position.

"It's not fair... We hadn't gone on a date for ten years and he just leaves to go train..." Nepgear sniffed. "Maybe I shouldn't be mad at him... He didn't do anything wrong..."

"Nepgear..." I called out to her.

"H-Huh?" She turned around, revealing her tear-stained face. She sniffle once again when she saw me. "H-Hey, Silver..."

"Nepgear..." I walked up to her and pulled her into a warm embrace, allowing her to bury her head into my jacket. "I'm sorry that I'm not the best boyfriend, but I do try..."

"I-I know..*sniff*…" Nepgear looked up at me with upturned eyes. "I just wish we could spend more time together..."

I nodded. "I do too. But I want to protect you and everyone else. That's why I always train."

"I know..." Nepgear wrapped her arms around mine. "J-Just...please always be there to protect me..."

I nodded and pressed my lips against her forehead. "I promise..."

Nepgear smiled. "Thank you..."

"Now, how about we hurry over to the dinner table?" I suggested. "We're going to be late for dinner."

Nepgear nodded firmly. "Okay!"

As she hurried out of the room, I let out a sigh. "Plus, you're sister is going to kill me if you don't return happy," I stuffed my hands into my pockets and started walking back to the living room. "At least she's a caring sister..."

"There you are!" Neptune shouted as I walked out of Plutia's room. "I hope you like beatings, you jerk!"

"W-Wait a second!" I cried as Neptune materialized her wooden blade and brought it down on me.

*Crash!*

Quickly, I teleported towards the dining table just before Neptune slammed my blade on me, causing her to smash a dent into the floor. "I swear, she's so strong..." I muttered.

"Huh?!" Neptune turned her head towards me. "Hey! How did you get there?! Do you have some kind of eye power?!"

"That's a secret!" I said. "I'll tell you if you stop trying to land me in the hospital with that wooden stick!"

Neptune stuck out her tongue. "No way! You hurt my kid sister! I'm going to make you suffer!"

*CRASH!*

As Neptune rushed towards me and slammed her blade down once again, I, once again, teleported out of the way. "I swear this is déjà vu!"

"And just like the other times, I'll Nep your face!" Neptune shouted.

"Neptune, please stop this!" Nepgear cried. "Silver didn't do anything wrong!"

"No! He brainwashed you!" Neptune claimed. "Don't worry though! I'll save you!"

"Neptune! I'm not lying! Just please stop!" I begged as I avoided another one of her strikes by hairs.

"Neptune, please stop so that we can just eat..." Hikan demanded.

"Stooop fighting, you twooo...!" Plutia whined.

*Crash!*

"Yeah!" I agreed as I avoided another one of Neptune's strikes. "If you keep this up, Plutia might transform, and you won't get to eat your pudding!"

"Mmgh..." Neptune dematerialized her blade and puffed out her cheeks. "Fine... But I'll get you next time..."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness..."

"Alright, let's eat!" Compa shouted.

As we all began to eat, I thought about Neptune's attempt to attack me. It was just like those times when I had just arrived in Gamindustri. The only difference this time was that Corvo had taught me how to teleport and move at a good pace without my Devils' aid.

I let out a sigh. "No use in thinking about that anymore..."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This is the end of the chapter and the filler chapters for now! The idea of adding in Corvo to train Silver was all _Piggyslayer1235's_ idea. Since this filler is over, we're going to wrap up Arc Three now and move onto Arc Four. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	117. Chapter 117

Chapter 117

A few weeks had passed since I had gone and trained with Corvo. Since then, not much had happened. The only real significant things were that Peashy started joining us with our work with her new CPU powers, and Peashy had also given Vert the nickname Bert. Ever since then, Vert had lost interest in Nepgear and had moved onto Peashy.

There was also some type of traumatizing eggplant event involving IF and Neptune. However, IF was too deeply scarred by it that I didn't want to bother her about it. The case was also the same with Neptune. Not only that, but IF had also developed an eggplant phobia. Besides that, nothing had really happened.

"Oh! I know!" Neptune suddenly got on top of the coffee table as we all quietly sat in the Planeptune Basilicom's living room. "Everyone! Twist and turn to me and listen up!"

"Oh no..." Noire let out a groan. "This probably won't end well..."

I shrugged. "I don't mind. It's better than just mindlessly sitting here, exchanging boring conversations."

Hikan nodded. "I second that."

"Y-Yeah..." Nepgear agreed. "It's just that whenever Neptune does that...she..."

Blanc nodded and let out a sigh. "It ends with her saying something completely stupid and pointless..."

"True," I agreed. "But it still is better than sitting around doing absolutely nothing."

"What do you even want to say?" Vert asked.

"W-Well... I just think that we should be a little more responsible and start doing some more work, y'know?" Neptune suggested.

"…" We all stared at her with blank looks.

"G-Guys?" Neptune returned our stares with a worried one. "D-Did I say something wrong? Did I trigger somebody?"

"WHAT!?" Everyone shouted their surprise at Neptune's words.

"What?! Did I really say something that terrible?" Neptune asked. "I thought it sounded pretty mature and responsible to me..."

"T-That's not the problem!" Noire stated.

"I-It is responsible... B-But..." Vert stared at Neptune worriedly.

"For you to say that?" Blanc finished Vert's sentence.

"Did you, by any chance, become ill during these past few weeks?" IF asked.

"Hahaha! Neptuna told a funny joke!" Peashy fell to the floor, laughing.

"Hey! Have some faith in me!" Neptune whined.

"Why did you even have this sudden idea to work?" Hikan asked.

"Well, it's nearly the end of Arc Three's story, so I thought we should get some work done," Neptune said. "Y'know. Build up an awesome climax!"

I let out a sigh. "You're right and all, but there are still several chapters to be written before Arc Three ends," I pointed out. "Plus, there are two more arcs after this."

"That doesn't matter!" Neptune said. "It'll still be the end of THIS story! I want to end on an awesome high note!"

"C-Could you two please stop saying things like that?" Nepgear asked. "I don't think those are things we should be saying."

Neptune let out a sigh. "The point is that we should all be working so that we can try to get some stuff done!"

"Yeah, but there's nothing to really do. We defeated the Seven Sages already," Noire pointed out. "Plus, don't you remember why Plutia was trying so hard to do work at a relaxed pace?"

Plutia shot up at Noire's words. "AHHHH...! Don't saaay it...!"

"I don't want Neptuna to go! I want to have fun with her!" Peashy whined.

"Noire's right. We are distancing ourselves from our friends if we do this," I said.

"But, if we don't, we're basically stalling for time!" Neptune said. "There's such a thing as too much of a good thing! If we keep on having fun, fun won't be fun anymore!"

"I'm not sure as to whether to be more shocked about you bringing up a good point, or you using fun so many times in one sentence..." Hikan commented.

"How about we just make one of us a villain?" Blanc suggested.

Neptune grinned at Blanc's idea. "If we're going to do that, it might as well be Noire!"

"What!? Why me!?" Noire questioned.

"Well, you do sometimes do some pretty nasty things," Neptune claimed. "You threatened to even kill a kid once!"

"I-I did not!" Noire denied. "I didn't even know those Babybugs were kids at the time!"

"Noire is soooo mean...!" Plutia stated.

"I don't want to hear that from you!" Noire shouted at Plutia.

I shrugged. "Well, what would make her a good villain? Unless she has some awesome abilities, she's not going to be that interesting as a villain."

"Of course I have something planned!" Noire said triumphantly. "I was planning not to display this for Plutia's sake, but I guess it can't be helped..."

"Huuh...?" Plutia cocked her head. "What is it?"

Noire pulled a small device and projected a holographic image of a console. "This is our new console! It's in full HD, uses Blak-ray discs, has an internal hard drive and all of it's specs have been improved upon as well!"

"Woah! No way!" Neptune stared at the game console in amazement.

"Damn bitch..." Blanc muttered. "You waited until we defeated the Seven Sages to do this, didn't you?"

"She basically took advantage of the peace and decided to swoop in to steal away all the shares," Hikan said. "Well played..."

"That is quite an impressive design, Noire," Vert complimented. "However, we chose to stick with DVDs. After looking through the trending charts, we decided it was best."

"W-Wait..." Noire looked over at Vert with a horrified expression. "Y-You mean..."

Vert nodded. "Of course. You weren't the only one preparing a new release in secret. We've been creating another console in secret as well."

"Woooow..." Plutia stared between Vert and Noire in fascination.

"Whatever! It's not like it will do well anyways!" Noire claimed. "It won't sell well here, and it'll end up like how your last console did!"

"Ah, but I have learned from my mistakes," Vert claimed as she also pulled out a small device and projected an image of her console. "I have made several improvements to help aid me in reaching global interest, though the power adaptor still isn't great..."

"You two are so stupid..." Blanc let out a sigh and pulled out another small device. "I guess if that's how it's going to be, there's no point in me holding back anymore..."

"What?!" Vert stared at Blanc with surprised expression.

"You mean you also had a console prepared!?" Noire asked.

Blanc nodded and projected the holographic image of her console. "Yep."

"Whatever! It can't be that great anyways!" Noire claimed.

"Are you sure?" Blanc asked with a confident grin. "My new console utilizes motion controls. It's something never seen before on the market! With this, you can use your whole body to play or just use your thumbs!"

"Oogh..." Noire turned away. "That actually does sound kind of fun..."

"Woooow...! Blanny is sooo amazing...!" Plutia commented.

"With this, Lowee will rule supreme once again!" Blanc claimed.

"Wooow... Those sound soooo amazing..." Plutia said. "I wish we had something..."

"No sweat, Plutie!" Neptune reassured Plutia. "We have...u-um... What do we have?"

"You guys really are hopeless..." Hikan muttered. "It is your job to come up with the ideas after all."

*Knock! Knock!*

"H-Huh?" We all turned towards the sudden knock at the door. "Who could it be?"

"I'll get it!" Nepgear said as she rose and dashed towards the door. Her eyes bulged at what she saw before quickly closing the door. "U-Um... N-Neptune?"

"What's up, Nep Jr.?" Neptune asked as she hopped off the coffee table and walked over towards her younger sister. "You called?"

"N-No, not you Neptune... I mean my older sister," Nepgear said.

"What does that even mean?" Noire asked.

"Not Neptune, but Neptune?" Hikan scratched his head. "There are so many things wrong with what you just said."

"Nepgear, do you maybe need some rest?" I asked. "If you need some, you can go get some sleep."

Nepgear shook her head. "I'm not sure how to explain it. It's probably better if you actually see for yourselves."

We all followed Nepgear out of the door.

"Woah... You weren't kidding," I muttered.

"Wow! Two Neptunas!" Peashy stared between the two Neptunes in wonder.

Standing in front of us was Neptune, in her HDD form. The only difference visible between the Neptune that stood on our side and the other Neptune was that the other Neptune had red eyes instead of blue.

"Woah! Who is this gorgeous, beautiful lady?!" Neptune asked as she saw her HDD self.

"…" The fake Purple Heart didn't say anything. Instead, she just stared at Neptune.

"Neptune, that's your HDD self," Hikan said

"Really?" Neptune let out a giggle. "If I was a dude, I'd totally date myself!"

"It doesn't matter. How did this imposter even get here?" Noire asked.

"…" The fake Purple Heart raised her blade towards us.

"I don't think that matters either. I just think it wants a fight," Hikan said.

I nodded. "Yeah. Let's just defeat her. Maybe we can interrogate her later."

*Ching!*

As everyone activated their HDD forms, I stared between the actual Purple Heart and the fake Purple Heart. "Hey, when we're fighting, how are we going to tell you two apart?"

"Easy. One can talk, while the other can't," Noire stated. "Neptune will just have to keep talking."

Neptune sighed. "So you want me to constantly scream?"

Noire shrugged. "You can drink some water later. You'll be fine."

"That's so cruel of you to say..." Neptune muttered. "Let's just get this imposter out of here. It's weird staring at myself."

*Bang!* *Clang!* *Bang!*

At Neptune's last words, the fake Purple Heart charged towards Neptune. Neptune quickly materialized her blade and parried the fake's strike. Before Neptune could land a hit on the fake Purple Heart, the fake kicked Neptune's side, causing her to stumble back. While the fake Purple Heart was retracting her foot, the rest of us materialized our weapons before Noire and Hikan charged towards the fake Purple Heart.

*Clang!*

Nearing the fake, Noire and Hikan thrusted their blades towards the fake Purple Heart's chest. However, instead of taking the hit, the fake jumped back and disarmed Hikan and Noire with a slash from her blade. As the fake Purple Heart stepped towards the two of them to perform another strike, Blanc and Vert raced in from behind the fake and swiped at her.

*Vrrp!*

The fake Purple Heart quickly jumped into the air to avoid their strikes. While she hovered in the air, Plutia coiled her whip around the fake's feet and pulled her back down towards the ground. While the fake Purple Heart was being pulled down to the ground, Plutia retracted her whip and Peashy dashed towards the fake. Only inches apart, Peashy punched the fake Purple Heart in the gut. Before the fake had time to catch her breath, Peashy kicked her in the gut and sent the fake flying back.

*Sk! Sk!* *Chk! Chk!* *SHK!*

Before the fake disappeared from our view, I slowed down time and dashed towards the fake Purple Heart. I quickly got behind her and threw her towards the ground. As time resumed, I materialized several throwing knives and pinned the fake Neptune to the ground. Not giving the fake any time to break free, Neptune stabbed her blade into the fake's chest, splattering blood onto Neptune.

"Nice one, Neptune!" I commented.

"Thanks," Neptune turned to me and smiled. "But how'd you know I wasn't the fake?"

I shrugged. "Easy. You made facial expressions."

*Ching!*

As Neptune removed the blade, the fake Purple Heart disappeared in a blinding light, as if it were never there.

Neptune stared at where the fake had once been. "I-It's...gone?"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here's the chapter's end! If you knew what consoles they were referencing in this chapter, then you probably remember how good they were. However, I'm now going to be focusing these chapters on finishing Arc Three. That way, we can move onto the fourth arc. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	118. Chapter 118

Chapter 118

We all stared at where the fake Purple Heart had once been. "It's...gone...?"

I quickly scanned the area around us and let out a sigh when I couldn't find anything. "Yeah, it's really gone..."

"Let's just head back into the Basilicom first," Noire suggested.

*Ching!*

As all the girls, besides Neptune, reverted back to their original forms, we walked back into the comfort of the Basilicom. "Alright, so what now?" Hikan asked.

"I just want to know how that fake Neptune got there," Noire stated.

"Same here," I agreed. "Also, the similarities between the real and fake version was too similar."

"Not only that. That copy had abilities equal to or greater than mine," Neptune added. "If you all hadn't been there, I could have possibly fallen."

"The question is who created it?" Blanc asked.

"I would also like to know," Vert agreed.

"The fact that someone out there can create a CPU that's also stronger than the original is a scary thought," Nepgear muttered.

"I wonder if they'll make meeee a copy...!" Plutia commented.

Hikan, IF and Nepgear all tensed up at the thought. "P-Please...no..." Nepgear murmured. "If two were to exist in the world..."

Hikan shuddered and finished Nepgear's sentence. "The world would see it's end..."

"If someone is capable of creating a stronger version of Neptune, then they're most likely capable of creating a clone of Plutia," I stated.

"But who could be capable of creating a clone?" Noire asked. "It couldn't be the Seven Sages. We already defeated them."

"No," Neptune shook her head. "There's still one more member that we forgot about."

I nodded. "Yeah, Rei Ryghts."

"That's mommy!" Peashy chimed in.

"Peashy, she wasn't your mom," IF stated. "You were brainwashed into believing she was your mom."

"But mommy's nice..." Peashy muttered.

"Wasn't she that one lady that was on the TV announcing Eden's creation ten years ago?" Hikan asked.

Nepgear nodded. "Yes. There's one in our dimension and one here."

"But Neptune," Blanc said, "how do you know it was her? Do you have any proof?"

Neptune let out a sigh before shaking her head. "It's true that I don't really have any actual proof. I do, however, still believe it was her. Whenever Silver and I were out doing quests, we met her there. That's also when we were teleported over to this dimension. I believe it was her because only the three of us were there at the time. I couldn't imagine Silver doing it, and I don't believe I have any ability to travel between dimensions."

"That could be a possibility, but do you have any solid evidence that it was her?" Noire asked.

"Noire's right," Vert agreed. "Although it may be true, it seems like you're just trying to connect theory to theory and make sense of the situation."

"What do you think, Silver?" Blanc asked.

"I agree with Neptune," I stated. "Nepgear and I met this man named Corvo during a date. He said that Rei was the biggest threat to us all, and he didn't seem like he was joking either."

"I guess I can believe it to an extent," Hikan said. "I mean she has to be the head of the Seven Sages for a reason."

"I don't know..." Noire stared at us with a skeptical look. "I still can't bring myself to believe it..."

Blanc nodded. "It still sounds too unbelievable."

"For once, I cannot side with Peashy..." Vert said.

"Then how about we go ask Mister Mouse?" Compa suggested. "He might know."

"That's not a bad idea," Blanc said. "I could ask that loud robot too."

"We could also ask Mr. Badd and Abnes," Noire pointed out.

"How about we go gather them all and then ask them questions?" Nepgear suggested.

I nodded. "Alright, then let's go!"

* * *

"Thanks for gathering, everyone!" Neptune thanked as she raised her mug filled with juice. "Cheers!"

*Clink!*

"Cheers!" We shouted as we clinked our mugs together.

"Ugh," Abnes shot Mr. Badd a dirty look. "Why do I have to be right next to this guy?"

"What's wrong!?" Mr. Badd returned Abnes' glare with his own. "I'm just trying to enjoy my drink!"

"W-We're sorry!" One of the Babybugs apologized. "W-We'll leave if we're that much of a nuisance..."

"A-Ah... N-No!" Abnes quickly waved at the Babybugs to signal them to not leave.

*RIIIIP!*

"CHUUUU!" Warechu cried out in pain as Peashy continued to tear off his fur. "S-Stop ripping off my fur!"

"Yay! Rat fur!" Peashy threw the fur up into the air like it was confetti.

"Ahh..." Copypaste sighed happily. "All this noise is so great!"

"Um, why are you guys in my Basilicom?" Noire asked as her face tensed up.

"Because we can't just keep going to Planeptune's Basilicom," Neptune said. "It's always great to switch things up! Also, it's too crowded there."

"Plus, we don't visit your Basilicom enough," I added as I took a swig from my mug.

"Then why didn't you guys go to Leanbox's Basilicom!?" Noire asked.

"That's because it'd be too crowded with all my valuable possessions," Vert claimed.

I stared at Vert with an ashamed look. "You mean your figures and posters?"

"M-Maybe..." Upon hearing my words, Vert slowly cast her eyes down to the floor.

"Still..." Noire crossed her arms and pouted. "Why did it have to be my Basilicom...?"

We had decided to gather everyone over at Lastation's Basilicom. For some reason, Neptune had decided to have a juice party. The reason we were having juice and not alcohol was because Abnes and Peashy were underaged.

"Noire, loosen up," Neptune suggested. "Isn't this what you wanted? Y'know, the things you don't have like friends and company..."

"S-Shut up!" Noire shouted as her face reddened. "I have friends!"

"And, still, we have yet to see one..." Neptune muttered.

"Look, the reason we gathered everyone here was so that we could test if your theory was right," Noire told Neptune. "We didn't come here to fool around."

"C'mon, get that stick outta your butt, Noire," Neptune said.

"LOOK! Can we just get something done!?" Noire shouted.

"Geez, Noire," Neptune let out a sigh.

"Noire, we already asked the questions," I said.

"H-Huh?" Noire stared at me with disappointment. "R-Really...? W-When?"

"We did it while you were complaining about us being too loud," Blanc said.

"W-Why didn't you tell me...?" Noire asked quietly.

"Well, you seemed really into it, so we decided it was best not to disturb you," Nepgear said.

"Sorry, you just seemed too into it," Hikan apologized.

"You could've at least said something..." Noire murmured.

"Sorry..." We all apologized.

"Anyway, what did they say?" Noire asked.

I nodded towards Neptune. "We actually wrote down what they said."

Neptune waved a notepad in Noire's face. "I'll read it for you, Miss Lonely Heart, just because I know your pretty dumb."

"Neptune, just shut up and read what the notepad says," Noire sternly demanded.

Neptune nodded and cleared her throat. "We asked if Rei had any supernatural powers that they knew of or any type of secret that allowed her to create things. This is what they said."

 _Warechu: "That middle-aged hag? Yeah, right!"_

 _Mr. Badd: "Impossible! Don't jest! That lady is too flimsy to be able to do something like that!"_

 _Abnes: "No way. She's too nervous and shy to do anything!"_

 _Copypaste: "Rei? Don't you kid with me! Her soul is too kind and innocent to do anything like that!"_

 _Peashy: "No way! Mommy is super nice and nervous and weak!"_

After reading all the responses, Neptune set the notepad down. "And that's about that."

"Apparently, Rei is too unreliable enough to be able to perform anything like that," Hikan said.

"So whoever created the fake Neptune, couldn't have been Rei," Blanc said. "Meaning, Neptune's theory was wrong..."

"Hey! At least I tried!" Neptune whined. "I thought it was a pretty good theory!"

*HZZZZ!*

"Actually, darling Neptune was right," Anonyydeath voice stated after a static shock filled the room.

"T-That voice!" Noire spun her head and scanned the room. "Show yourself, you creepy robot!"

"Aww..." Anonydeath let out a sigh. "Noire, please call me something more cute. Pretty please?"

"NEVER!" Noire shouted.

"How come we can hear you voice?" I asked as I looked around the room.

"I could have sworn I had checked for your devices," Nepgear stated.

"Honey, like you, your devices were just too boring and simple," Anonydeath stated. "All I had to do was confuse them a bit."

"Anonydeath?" Copypaste roared out in laughter. "It's good to hear your voice, pal. This feels so NOSTALGIC!"

"Daddy! It's daddy!" Peashy excitedly spun her head around the room. "Where's daddy!?"

"Still not showing your face I see," Mr. Badd shook his head. "That's so like you."

"I'd rather not come," Anonydeath said. "Plus, I'm in a bit of a pinch right now. So I'm afraid I couldn't come even if I wanted to."

"That's great and all, but what did you mean when you said Neptune was right?" Hikan asked.

"I meant exactly what I meant," Anonydeath said. "Neptune's theory about Rei was correct."

"Really!?" Neptune formed a wide grin. "Alright! Beat that, Noire! I'm smarter than you!"

"Whatever!" Noire crossed her arms. "I need an explanation before I start believing anything!"

"Well, after our kiddy CPU lost to you all, I left the Seven Sages," Anonydeath stated. "That meant that the Seven Sages had been disbanded."

"It would be pretty funny if the Seven Sages would have stayed an organization with just one member," Blanc commented.

"Anyway, after I had left, I had realized I had forgotten something back at our old hideout," Anonydeath continued. "So I went back to get it. But..."

I cocked my head. "B-But?"

Anonydeath let out a sigh. "But, when I went back to the hideout, I found an evil-looking Rei there. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by a bunch of CPU clones..."

"So you're saying Rei really did create that CPU?" Mr. Badd asked.

"I'm afraid that's the case," Anonydeath muttered

"I never knew Rei would do such a thing..." Copypaste bowed his head.

"Wait, you said earlier that you were in a pinch?" I questioned. "What happened after she surrounded you?"

"Right..." Anonydeath let out another sigh. "After I had been surrounded, I was knocked out and placed in a cell."

"Then how are you doing this call?" I asked.

"Well, this is what Rei wants me to do. She wants me to be the bait that brings you out," Anonydeath said.

"What's keeping you locked up?" Nepgear asked. "Didn't you say you were in a pinch?"

"Well..." Anonydeath laughed dryly. "Noire might find it quite disturbing..."

"W-Wait..." Noire's eyes bulged in fear. "Y-You mean..."

"I'm currently surrounded by several Noires," Anonydeath claimed. "And I'm having...quite an enjoyable time..."

"EWWW! Stop! Stop!" Noire shrieked. "We'll go! Just stop talking and don't touch them anywhere weird!"

I let out a chuckle. "This is going to be fun..."

"Oh, do come fast," Anonydeath requested. "Although these Noires are fun to play with, they don't have the reactions only the real Noire can provide."

"Alright!" Neptune got on top of Noire's bed and faced us all. "Everyone, let's go!"

"Yeah!" We all dashed out of Lastation's Basilicom and hurried towards where Anonydeath was being held...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This is the end of the chapter. I think I'm going to start asking questions just for fun. I want to know what you all think. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Would you rather have a puppet that did your every command, but couldn't talk, or a normal friend who could make their own decisions?**


	119. Chapter 119

Chapter 119

"Plutia, pick up the pace!" Noire shouted back at Plutia, who was struggling to catch up.

"W-Waaait, Noire..." Plutia called out as she breathed heavily, struggling to catch up to Noire. "You're walking too faaast, Noire..."

"You can do it, Ploot!" Peashy cheered.

I let out a sigh. "Man, you're really determined to get to Anonydeath, aren't you?"

"I just want to hurry and destroy those clones so he can't do anything gross to them," Noire stated. "So, pick up the pace!"

After a while of hurrying towards Eden, we had found ourselves on the path to another one of the Seven Sages' bases. The pathway was colored a neon blue color and transparent.

"Uugh..." Plutia collapsed at our feet, letting out ragged breaths. "I'm sooo tired..."

"U-Um..." Nepgear stared, horrified, at the person who had stepped behind Plutia. "P-Plutia... L-Look behind you..."

"Huuh...?" Plutia spun around and was met by the sight of Blanc in her HDD form. "Ooooh, hiiii Blanny...!"

"Wait..." I turned to where Blanc had once been to find her still standing there. "Oh shit!"

"Move!" I pushed Plutia out of the way as the clone of Blanc threw a fist. I quickly kicked the fake Blanc away. "Man, that was close..."

"Waaait...!" Plutia stared between the two Blancs. "Why are there two Blannys!?"

Hikan let out a sigh and pointed towards the fake White Heart. "Because that one is a fake."

"…" The White Heart that stood before us was another fake created by Rei most likely. Like the fake Purple Heart, the fake White Heart didn't seem too talkative.

"No sweat guys!" Neptune claimed. "It's just one of them!"

"N-Neptune, you might want to count again," Nepgear suggested.

"H-Huh?" Neptune stared at her sister with a puzzled look before turning back to face the clone. "What do you mean Nepg—Holy pepperoni!"

"This certainly is something..." Vert muttered.

"…"

"…"

Standing before us now were several clones. There was a clone of White Heart, Green Heart and Yellow Heart, all of which looked identical to the original versions.

"WOW! It's the big me!" Peashy stared at her HDD self in amazement.

"To think that there would clones of us too..." Blanc glared at the clones. "I'll crush them!"

"Of course there isn't a clone of me..." Nepgear muttered. "I'm just a CPU Candidate anyways..."

"Don't worry, sis," Neptune patted her sisters back. "At least you had the role of the protagonist once, unlike the other Candidates."

I let out a sigh and stared down the fake CPUs. "Look we better hurry and focus. I don't think they'll wait on us."

Everyone nodded. "Right!"

*Ching!*

After everyone had entered their HDD forms, we all materialized our weapons as the fake CPUs materialized their weapons as well.

*Bang!* *Chk!* *FWMPH!*

Without giving us a second to say anything, the fake CPUs charged towards us. As the fake Green Heart's spear was thrown towards me, I quickly teleported closer towards the fake Green Heart, flashing from one spot to the next while avoiding her barrage of spears. Upon nearing her, the fake Green Heart threw a kick towards me. Quickly, I jumped back, teleported behind her and pulsed out energy, causing a gale of wind to strike the fake Green Heart's back, sending her flying.

*Boom! Boom! Boom!* *Shk! Shk! Shk!* *Sk!*

However, the fake Green Heart quickly recovered her footing and dashed to the nearest opponent, which was Vert. Before I could chase after the fake, I let my instincts take over, and ducked to the ground, missing a slash from the fake Yellow Heart's claws by hairs. Jumping back to my feet, I grabbed the fake Yellow Heart's arm before she could retract it and threw her up into the air. I then activated Level Two, slowed down time and, after materializing several blades circling around me, shot all my blades towards the fake Yellow Heart. As I let time resume, the fake forced herself out of the way of the blades, allowing only one to cut her side.

*CRACK!* *BOOM!* *Sk!*

I leapt up after the fake Yellow Heart, only to be slammed to the side by the force of the fake White Heart's hammer. After crashing to the floor, I hopped back to my feet only to be greeted by the unfriendly sight of the fake White Heart's hammer about to smash my head off. Without thinking, I grabbed the hammer at it's sharp edge with my left hand, causing it to burn and blood to run down my left arm, in an attempt to hold back the hammer.

*Chk!* *Thud!* *Hshhh!*

As the fake White Heart applied more pressure to her hammer, I teleported behind her, making the fake lose her balance. I then thrusted my blade into her back, pinning her to the ground and causing her to disappear in a blinding light. As the light faded away, I turned to the others.

*Bang! Bang!* *Sk!* *Shk!* *Crash!* *Boom!* *Hshhh!*

The fake Green Heart and Yellow Heart charged towards Neptune and Blanc. While the fake Yellow Heart was closing in on Neptune, Neptune quickly got into a stance and got ready to dash towards the fake Yellow Heart. As the fake Yellow Heart reached Neptune's face, Neptune lunged forward and performed two blinding slashes on the Yellow Heart's abdomen, leaving two, glowing slashes shaped like a 'v'. Before the fake Yellow Heart could lung towards Neptune, Peashy kicked the fake Yellow Heart away and threw a punch towards her, causing the fake Yellow Heart to crash into the floor and blow up. As the Yellow Heart blew up, there was also a blinding flash, causing the fake Yellow Heart to disappear.

*Boom!* *Vrrrp!* *Boom!* *Sk!* *Shwing!* *Boom! Boom! Boom!*

We turned our attention to the battle against the fake Green Heart, who was attacking Vert. While Vert continued to evade the fake Green Heart's thrusts, Noire and Hikan swooped in from behind and slammed their blades down against the fake Green Heart. The fake quickly jumped out of the way only to be coiled tightly by Plutia's whip and pulled towards Plutia. Plutia then uncoiled her whip as the fake reached her and kicked the fake Green Heart in the face, sending her crashing back to the floor.

Before the fake Green Heart could touch the ground, Blanc slammed the fake Green Heart back into the air. As the fake began to fall once again, Hikan and Noire slashed at the fake and kicked her towards Vert. Before the fake Green Heart was within ten feet of Vert, Vert summoned a green circle and shot multiple spears from it and towards the fake Green Heart.

*Boom! Boom!* *Bang!* *Hshhh!*

The fake Green Heart was pushed back by the force of the spears consistently smashing into her. As Vert allowed the barrage to cease, the fake Green Heart managed to find her footing and dash towards Vert once more. However, Nepgear quickly shot a laser from her beam saber and caused the fake Green Heart to disappear into a blinding light.

*Ching!*

After we had made sure we had defeated all the fakes, the CPUs reverted back to their normal forms while I let my Devils' energy fade out of my body.

"They...were so strong..." Neptune said as she collapsed to the ground. "I'm too pooped to continue."

"W-What...are you...talking about?" Noire asked as she struggled to catch her breath. "T-This is nothing..."

Vert shook her head at Noire's dishonesty. "Noire, stop lying to yourself."

"I-I...don't care..." Noire coughed out. "L-Let's just hurry and find that creepy robot...before he does anything really creepy..."

I shook my head in disapproval. "Noire, you won't be able to fight at your best against the other Noires guarding Anonydeath if you force yourself to keep moving."

"Yeah, let's take a snack break!" Neptune suggested. "I want some pudding!"

"Oh! I want Neptuna's pudding!" Peashy shouted as she tackled Neptune.

Nepgear let out a soft giggle. "It's a good thing we decided to bring some snacks."

Hikan and I exchanged chuckles. "The only people who are ever going to eat the snacks we bring are Neptune and Peashy," Hikan muttered.

I smiled. "Hey, we're not wasting food, so I'm not complaining."

"Whatever! Gimme the pudding!" Neptune whined as Nepgear slowly took out the pudding.

"Gimme! Gimme!" Peashy chanted.

We all sat down on the floor and watched Neptune and Peashy eat...

"You two really are good together..." I commented.

Neptune and Peashy grinned towards me as they each took a chomp out of their pudding cups. "Ehehe..."

* * *

"Are we there yet?" Neptune asked as we continued to walk along the path.

"No."

"Now?"

"No."

"Now?"

"I SAID NO!" Noire shouted back at Neptune. "Geez, don't you have any patience?!"

"Don't you have any friends?" Neptune responded.

"W-Why you..." Noire glared at Neptune angriliy.

"Oh!" Hikan pointed up ahead. "Look! There's Anonydeath!"

"Oh! Noire, CPUs and boy!" Anonydeath waved towards us. "Hurry! Hurry!"

We hurried towards him to find him trapped behind a barrier. I stared at the barrier for a second. "Hey, isn't this what your energy shield is made out of?"

"That's right, boy," Anonydeath nodded. "Rei created this shield and reinforced it to where I can't break out of it."

"Wait, where are the fake Noires?" Hikan asked as he looked into Anonydeath's barrier. "I don't see them anywhere."

"That's because they're right behind you all..." Anonydeath said as he pointed behind us.

We all spun our heads to see four fake Noires, all in their HDD forms, standing right in front of us. Like the rest, they didn't speak or show any facial expression.

"Wow! There are so many Noires!" Neptune said.

Peashy pointed a finger towards the fake Black Hearts. "There's...one...two...four! There are four fake Noires!"

"Peashy, it's three then four," Vert explained in a polite tone. "One, two, three four...!"

"Okay!" Peashy nodded and began counting the fake Black Hearts again. "One, two...three...four! There are four Noires!"

Noire let out a sigh. "Let's just hurry and defeat these fakes..."

*Ching!*

I set my body percentage to forty as the CPUs activated their HDD forms.

I formed a wide grin as we all materialized our weapons. "Alright! Let's go!"

*FWSHHH!* *Bang!* *Shwing!*

As we all lunged towards the four fake Black Hearts, Hikan created a wall of flames in between all the fake Black Heart's, allowing the nine of us to fight each of the Black Heart's in groups. While the others were split off, I dashed towards our clone with Hikan.

As we neared her, the fake Black Heart filled her blade with rainbow energy and slashed at us, creating an energy wave. We both evaded the blow and continued our pursuit towards the fake. As we reached ten feet away from her, she dashed towards us and began flying around us, slashing away at us. Hikan and I avoided the multiple quick slashes from the fake Black Heart while she continued to slash and dash. Finding an opening, I slowed down time and kicked the fake Black Heart away as time resumed.

*Sk! Sk!* *Shk! Shk!* *Chk!* *Shk!* *CHK!* *HSHHH!*

However, the fake snapped her fingers and the two of us were instantly bombarded by instantaneous slashes from nowhere. While we endured the burning slashes, I slowed down time and pulled Hikan out of the area of the slashes. Letting time resume, we both rushed at the fake Black Heart and thrusted our blades into her thorax, causing her to go limp and disappear in a blinding flash.

As the two of us released sighs, we let the fire walls disappear, discovering the other fake Black Hearts had been taken down as well.

"Good job!" Anonydeath complimented us as his barrier disappeared. "I have you all to thank for my rescue!"

*Ching!*

Noire crossed her arms as all the CPUs reverted back to their original forms. "Whatever! I only came here to stop the clones, not you!"

"Still as cold as ever, my lovely Noire," Anonydeath let out a giggle. "However, I am truly thankful that you all came to save me."

"I didn't come here to save you or anything!" Noire claimed. "It was just to defeat the clones!"

"Awww..." Anonydeath let out a sigh. "And, to think, I was going to destroy the formula for creating more Noire clones if you had come to save me. Oh well..."

"Yeah! I came here to save you!" Noire lied. "Now get rid of that formula!"

"Wow, this guy knows how to play his cards," Neptune muttered.

"I'll take my leave now," Anonydeath said as he burned a scrap of paper, which I assumed to be the formula. "Just remember, when you face Rei, she won't be the same anymore. She has the power to rival all of yours combined."

"All of us?" Hikan wondered. "Wow..."

"Well, that's just a warning," Anonydeath said as he began to walk away. "Good luck!"

As Anonydeath left our sight of view, I turned to the others. "Everyone, let's go!"

We nodded and dashed ahead, towards Rei Ryghts...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And here is the chapter's end! I don't have too much to say this time. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Would you rather have infinite power or have true happiness?**


	120. Chapter 120

Chapter 120

"Are you sure you heard something?" Blanc asked Nepgear as we continued down a pathway.

Nepgear nodded. "I'm absolutely sure!"

After a while of walking, Nepgear had heard voices coming from down a pathway, so we decided to follow her down the pathway.

"I don't know..." Vert muttered. "I didn't hear anything."

"I didn't hear anything at aaall..." Plutia agreed.

"Neither did I," Noire added. "Nepgear, maybe you were mishearing things."

Nepgear slumped over and let out a groan. "Hearing everyone say all this makes me doubt myself..."

I pulled her into a hug as she sulked. "It's alright. I believe you."

"Yeah!" Peashy said. "I definitely heard a sound coming from this direction!"

"Oh, well if Peashy says so, then there must be something down this way," Vert said.

Hikan and I stared at Vert with stares of disbelief. "You're joking, right?"

I shook my head at Hikan. "No, she's not."

"Peashy has suuuch good ears...!" Plutia stated.

Nepgear buried her face further into my chest. "Ugh... Why do I get treated like this?"

"Let's just keep walking," I suggested as I took Nepgear's hand, and we walked side by side.

"There's not much walking we need to do," Blanc stated as she pointed ahead. "Look."

"Hey, there she is!" Neptune said as she also pointed towards Rei Ryghts, who was standing in the center of a clearing.

"It really is Rei," I said as we all dashed towards the clearing.

"Hey! It's mommy!" Peashy cried as we approached Rei. "Hi mommy!"

"YOU ARE ALL LATE!" Rei shouted at us.

"AHHH!" Peashy shrunk back. "M-Mommy?"

"First of all, I am NOT your mother!" Rei spat at Peashy. "Secondly, I would NEVER have YOU as my kid!"

"Waaaah!" Tears began to stream down Peashy's face. "Mommy!"

"Hey, why'd you make P-Ko cry?!" Neptune asked. "That ain't human!"

"Why are you doing all this!?" Noire asked.

"Ha! You really think that I'd tell you!?" Rei began to laugh like a maniac. "I would NEVER tell you! The only way you could get me to tell you is over my dead body!"

"Is it just me, or is this lady nuts?" Neptune asked.

Hikan chuckled. "I think she might have a few loose screws in her head."

"She wasn't like this the last time we saw her," Nepgear muttered.

I nodded. "Yeah. Last time, she was still a nervous wreck."

"Peashy, is this woman really your mother?" Vert asked.

Peashy shook her head and wiped away her tears. "N-No! My mommy was really nervous and scared, but she was still nice!"

"Well, if that's the case, there's no point in us holding back," Blanc stated.

"Grrr..." A shadow was cast over Plutia's eyes as she glared at Rei.

"What!? Is there something on my face!?" Rei questioned Plutia. "Because, if there isn't, you should stop glaring at me like that!"

*Ching!*

"Eep!" Nepgear clung to me as Plutia suddenly transformed.

"For making a child cry, I won't hold back when I punish you!" Plutia said as she materialized and cracked her whip.

"Oh great," Rei stared at Plutia with a disgusted look. "And here we have a "modern day" CPU. You're not a CPU! You can't even act like one!"

Plutia smirked. "You can insult me all you want. I react better to praise than to insults anyways."

"Listen, I'm tired of this crazy lady's rambling," Noire said. "So I'm going to transform so that we can hurry and beat this lady up!"

*Ching!*

Noire entered her HDD form and materialized her weapon. "Get ready to lose!"

"Rrgh...!" Rei stared at Plutia and Noire with complete hatred. "And this is what I'm talking about! Here we have another scandalously-dressed CPU! None of you are worthy to be CPUs! How can people worship people like you who dress like that!?"

Noire formed a wide grin and turned to Vert. "Hey, Vert. How do her words make you feel?"

"Don't just suddenly ask me such a question," Vert whined before letting out a sigh. "Well..."

*Ching!*

Vert activated her HDD form and also materialized her weapon. "Well, I believe it's alright to wear anything, as long as you believe it makes you look beautiful. But if you can't wear the outfit with proper style, it definitely is a disgraceful wear," Vert claimed. "That being said, that would make this hag a disgrace."

As Rei stared at Vert, a blood vessel appeared at Rei's face. "W-Why you...!"

Blanc let out a chuckle. "I don't know why you're saying that she's so old. You're at the limit too, you know."

"Oh?" Vert turned her attention to Blanc. "Did you say something I didn't want to hear?"

Blanc shrugged. "Nope. Not at all."

*Ching!*

"Let's just smash her face in!" Blanc shouted as she activated her HDD form and materialized her weapon.

"What should I do..." Neptune wondered as she stared at the others. "I don't want to transform. If I do, I won't crack jokes! I'll just become a serious ladygirl!"

Nepgear sighed. "I don't really change much, so I'm just going to transform..."

Hikan sighed. "Gee, you're sad, aren't you?"

Nepgear nodded silently, causing Neptune to also let out a sigh. "How about we transform with you?"

*Ching!*

As Nepgear let out one final sigh, Nepgear, Hikan and Neptune all activated their HDD forms before materializing their weapons. "Let's just defeat her quickly," Neptune suggested. "If we want to get any answers out of her, we're going to have to calm her down first."

I nodded as I activated Level Two and set my body percentage to ninety before I materialized my blade. Plutia smirked. "Alright, let's get started, shall we?"

"Ploot! Hey, Ploot!" Peashy tugged on Plutia's arm.

"What is it, Peashy?" Plutia asked as she stared down at Peashy. "You can transform."

"N-No..." Peashy turned her eyes down to the ground. "Are you going to hurt mommy?"

Plutia sighed. "Peashy, you know how Iffy or Neppy will bop you on the head when you do something wrong, right?"

Peashy nodded. "Uh-huh! They give me a good bop until I say sorry!"

"Then this is the exact same thing," Plutia claimed. "Your mommy is simply being bad, so we have to punish her."

"Plutia! Don't!" Neptune warned.

"You can make your mom say sorry, right?" Plutia asked.

"Y-Yeah... Yeah, I can do that!" Peashy stated.

*Ching!*

As Peashy activated her HDD form and her claws materialized, Peashy glared at Rei. "Mommy, I'll make you fall to your knees and apologize!"

"Plutia has already started to corrupt Peashy..." Hikan muttered. "I can't even imagine what Plutia will do to Peashy in the future..."

I sighed. "Let's just get this over with..."

Rei snarled at us. "Are you all done fooling around!? Because, now, I'll show you my true form and erase you all from existence in an instant!"

*CHING!*

"W-Wait...!" We all stared at Rei in horror.

Noire tisked. "That damn robot wasn't lying! Her powers really are similar to our's!"

I shook my head. "No, her powers are exactly the same as yours! She's a CPU!"

Rei's HDD form mostly changed her appearance. Her eye color had changed to a neon blue and she no longer wore glasses.

She wore triangular-shaped black hair accessories, each on the sides of her hair. Floating above the hair accessories were white and blue, bone-like objects.

Her attire had changed quite a bit and resembled Vert's HDD apearance in a way. She wore a black, skintight one-piece swimsuit-like outfit with neon blue highlights, a bulky white collar-like item wrapped around her neck and her belly area was colored a white color. Her bosom was exposed, only barely covered by a bit of the outfit.

She wore black, thigh-high, and skintight boots, also her boots were plated with a blue and white material. Finally, her arms were equipped with a pair of leotard-like black sleeves with white, elbow-high gloves.

"HAHAHA!" Rei laughed manically and grinned at us. "Prepare to die! I will wipe all of you CPUs from existence!"

"Let's go!" Neptune commanded.

* * *

 **Third Person POV**

*Bang!* *Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!*

The CPUs all charged towards Rei Ryghts. However, instead of moving out of the way, Rei summoned several elemental circles. As Silver and the CPUs stopped to ready themselves for Rei's attack, Rei commanded the circles to fire.

Suddenly, the circles began to shoot out large blasts of energy, at a high speed, towards the CPUs and Silver. While Neptune, Plutia and Nepgear sidestepped their blast, Hikan and Silver leaped over theirs, and Vert, Blanc, Noire and Peashy jumped to the side of their blasts, Rei dashed behind them at lightning speed.

*Clang!* *Sk!* *Vrrrp!*

Before any of the CPUs or Silver could react, Rei materialized a katana and slashed at Vert, Noire, Blanc and Peashy. But before Rei's blade could tear into the CPUs' skin, Silver appeared in front of Rei and parried her strike, causing her to stumble back.

Without giving Rei a chance to recover, Hikan increased his speed and slashed at Rei. However, Rei quickly stepped back, only receiving a tiny cut to her abdomen. Before Rei could strike back against the two boys, Plutia's whip coiled around Rei, and Plutia pulled Rei towards her.

*BOOM!* *Crash!* *Crack!* *BOOM!* *Crack!*

As Rei planted her feet into the floor in an attempt to escape Plutia's binding, Peashy punched Rei in the gut, knocking the breath out of Rei. Along with that, Rei was instantly pulled towards Plutia. As Plutia uncoiled her whip once Rei was within five feet of her, Plutia grabbed Rei, slammed her head into the floor and followed her assault with a hard kick to the side of her head.

*Thud!* *Bang!*

Before Plutia could retract her leg, Rei grabbed Plutia's ankle and, getting back up, threw Plutia towards an oncoming strike by Neptune and Nepgear, causing the three of them to all crash to the floor. Lunging towards the Planeptune CPUs, Rei was greeted by the sight of Blanc stepping in front of her and swinging her hammer towards Rei's face.

*Clang!* *Thud!*

However, instead of evading the strike, Rei filled her fists with a blue energy and smashed her fist against the hammer, smashing the hammer into thousands of pieces. While Blanc was left in shock, Rei punched Blanc in the gut, crumpling Blanc to the ground. Before Rei could kick Blanc away, Noire and Vert came in from both sides of Rei and thrusted their weapons towards Rei.

*BANG!* *Boom!* *THUD!*

Rei quickly jumped back and avoided the strikes of the two CPUs. However, as she landed back onto the floor, the CPUs all surrounded Rei and rushed at her. Before their strikes could touch her, an explosion of blue energy exploded from her and blew all the CPUs back, reverting them all back to their original forms.

"HAHA!" Rei stared at the CPUs with a satisfied grin. "I told you that you'd lose!

*Shk!*

"A-Ah..." Rei's eyes suddenly widened as Silver stabbed her from the back, causing Rei to crumple to the ground. "Y-You... AGHHH!"

*Ching!*

A blinding light flashed and enveloped Rei, causing her to revert back to her original form.

"Let's get her back to the Basilicom," Silver advised as the CPUs gathered around him. "We need her to answer a lot of questions."

Noire nodded. "Yeah."

Without uttering another word, Hikan and Silver supported Rei and they all began to head back towards the Basilicom...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here is the chapter's end! Next week, there will be an upload every day from Monday to Friday. This is because I'll be wrapping Arc Three up that week. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Would you rather side with somebody who is honest, but has nobody on their side, or side with somebody who has everyone on their side?**


	121. Chapter 121

Chapter 121

 **Silver's POV**

"Mmgh..." We all watched as Rei lay there on the couch, tossing and turning.

After we had defeated Rei, we had taken her back to the Basilicom, where her wounds were treated, and we allowed her to rest on our couch.

"She's been out for a couple of hours now..." Compa murmured.

Noire sighed and shook her head, turning to Plutia. "Plutia, you went too far torturing this lady."

"Nuh-uh...!" Plutia whined. "It wasn't meee...!"

"Still, she seems to be having a nightmare of some sort," Hikan said as he watched Rei toss and turn. "The poor lady..."

"She seems to be forming a sweat..." Nepgear muttered before she pulled out a handkerchief and leaned close to Rei. "Here, I'll wipe it off."

"….GAAHHHH!"

"Eek!"

*Thud!*

While Nepgear leaned over to wipe away Rei's sweat, Rei suddenly jumped awake and tried to sit up, causing Rei to collide heads with Nepgear. As the two collided heads, Rei was knocked back to the couch, while Nepgear was forced to the floor.

"Ouchie..." Nepgear rubbed at the bump on her head as I ran over to aid her. "I-Is it bad?"

I sighed as I examined the bump on her head. "Yeah, it's pretty big..."

"Uugh..." Nepgear, out of embarrassment, covered her face with her hands.

I turned back to Rei, who was trying to figure out her surroundings. "Finally awake, huh?"

"…" She turned and stared at me but remained silent.

"H-Hey," Noire stared at Rei with a cautious stare. "Do you think that she's still crazy?"

"M-Mommy?" Peashy, who stood beside Rei, stared at Rei cautiously.

Suddenly, Rei's eyes widened. "W-Wait! Where am I?! Why am I here?!"

"Yay! That's mommy!" Peashy grinned widely while Rei continued to panic.

Blanc sighed. "We took you back to Planeptune's Basilicom to treat your injuries."

Compa nodded. "I tried my best to fix your owwies!"

"T-Thank you..." Rei smiled timidly at Compa before sitting back up and turning her attention to the rest of us. "U-Um..."

Hikan let out a groan. "Let's just cut straight to the point," Hikan said. "Tell us why you're a CPU."

Rei let out a deep breath before nodding firmly. "Alright," Rei then took three nearby sheets of paper and began drawing something on them with a red and black crayon, which had sat beside her. Rei then sat the picture down in front of us to see. "Y-You see, back then, Gamindustri was a—"

"Hold that dial!" Neptune shouted, leaving Rei speechless. Neptune stared at the drawing and began to laugh aloud. "HAHAHAHA! What is that thing!? It looks like something that would go in a modern art museum!"

"I-It's a drawing... I guess..." Nepgear muttered.

"What even is that!?" Noire asked as she jabbed her index finger towards the drawing.

"Woooow...!" Plutia stared at the drawing in awe. "I could never draw thaaat bad..."

"Hahaha!" Peashy began to burst out into tears while she stared at the drawing. "Mommy draws so funny!"

"T-That's...um..." Hikan stared at the drawing. He was at a lost for words.

Honestly, there was no possible way to describe the drawing other than as a bloody scribble.

I sighed while I stared at the drawing. "Don't take this the wrong way, but this drawing looks like something a four-year-old would scribble onto a piece of paper."

"Ugh..." Rei bowed her head. "You don't have to say it out loud..."

"Why did you make these drawings?" Nepgear asked. "These drawings don't look...child friendly...nor do they look like drawings..."

"W-Well, I thought that a visual example would help describe the story," Rei muttered. "But it seems they're only good for making people laugh..."

"Stop laughing at my patient's drawing!" Compa demanded. "It's not nice, even if they do look weird!"

Hikan stared at Compa with a puzzled expression. "W-Was that meant to be a compliment or an insult?"

"Enough, everyone," IF raised her voice. "Just focus on her story. You can laugh it out later."

Neptune pouted. "Fine, mom!"

Rei let out a whimper before sighing. She then showed us the "visual example" once again. "B-Back then, thousands of years before any of you were born, Gamindustri was a barbaric and chaotic place. People fought against each other to survive, others stole food and some even killed to live."

"I see..." I nodded and scratched my chin. "Y'know, this drawing could actually represent how bad the world was back then."

Neptune put a hand over her mouth in an attempt to quiet down her snickering. "T-That may be... B-But...it still looks so terrible..."

"You all are hopeless," Noire claimed before her eyes drifted to the drawing. "B-But...h-heh...it does look...mgh...pretty bad!"

Blanc also placed a hand over her mouth. "J-Just...mph...don't look...directly...a-at it..."

Rei sighed, but ignored their comments. "Anyway, I was living a pretty bad life. I was starving and had no shelter or anything," Rei continued. "Then, one day, I was so desperate for food that I ate one of those CPU Memories. Before I knew it, I was a CPU..."

Rei then quickly drew another "example" and laid it out for us to see, causing Neptune to giggle. "After that, I began to guide the people of Gamindustri. I formed a nation and named it Tari."

"Tari!?" Blanc and I spoke the name with surprise.

"H-Huh?" Nepgear stared at us blankly. "Do you two know of it's existence?"

Blanc nodded. "Yeah, our nation has some old documents about it."

I shrugged. "I don't know too much. All I know is that I found a note that said something about saving some people from the nation of Tari."

"Save the people?" Noire cocked her head towards Rei. "Why would they need to be saved?"

Rei sighed. "You all should have a pretty well understanding as to why people wanted to be saved from Tari. When you last saw me, I was a completely different person."

Hikan nodded. "Yeah, care to explain?"

Rei nodded. "The saying has always been that power corrupts. And, as I'd displayed earlier, it got to my head. For me, if I'm given too much power, I sort of..."

"You basically go insane, right?" Noire finished.

"Yes," Rei sighed and, after another quick speed draw, laid out another picture for us to see. "Eventually, the feeling of power over all those people got to my head, and I went crazy. Eventually, it caused all of the citizens of Tari to form a rebellion against me."

However, instead of reforming, I decided to fight back against my citizens. At the time, I was unaware that a CPU's power came from the faith of their people. So I slaughtered many of my citizens, causing me to lose shares at a rapid rate."

"Then what happened?" Hikan asked.

Rei answered his question. "During my genocide to my nation, I destroyed the entirety of Tari, along with all of it's citizens. Somehow I survived, but I had lost my powers as a CPU. It was then that I came to the conclusion that CPUs weren't needed. If not for them, none of that would have happened. It wasn't until recently that I realized I was merely shifting the blame."

"Indeed, that is the case," Vert stated.

"Then that explains how you became a CPU," Noire said. "So then what happened?"

"After that, the world plunged deeper into a world filled with more despair. I now couldn't age or die. It gave me a lot of time to think," Rei explained. "Eventually, I found out about the other me in the other dimension. Although she didn't have any powers, she was still trying to accomplish her goals. After seeing her so determined, I sent the last of my powers to her. It was at that time when I was given the idea of forming the Seven Sages, and I assume you all know the rest."

"But there are still variables you're leaving out," Vert added.

Rei cocked her head. "Like what?"

"How did you gain enough power to rival us?" Vert asked.

"Well, I'm not too sure myself," Rei admitted. "I believe it works in a sort of balance system. Every time I lose, the other me gains a power boost. The same works the other way around. If she loses, I gain a power boost."

Vert nodded. "Alright. Then how were you able to send your powers to the Rei of Neptune's dimension?"

Rei's eyes widened. "Ahhhh! Oh no! I'm so sorry! I forgot to mention Croire!"

Hikan cocked his head. "Croire? Who's that?"

"I'm not to sure myself," Rei admitted. "When I became a CPU, she just started tagging along with me. She can travel between dimensions. That's how I gave the other me her powers."

"Croooire...?" Plutia formed a wide grin as she said the name. "That sounds like Histy's name...!"

"Hey! Who's talking about me!?" A voice asked.

"Huh?" We all scanned around the room. I looked up. "Hey! There she is!"

"Yo! What's up?" A fairy-like person greeted us.

"Croire, what are you doing here?" Rei asked.

"I'm here to tell you something, duh!" Croire said.

I looked at Croire. Her appearance resembled Mini-Histoire's. Her skin was tanned, her hair and eye color were the same as Mini-Histoire's, and Croire and Mini-Histoire were both similar in size. They both floated on tomes, sat on a magical circle and had a pair of wings.

Croire's wings were a transparent lavender color, her tome was a plum purple color and her circle was a hot pink color. Lastly, she wore a black, one-piece sleeveless dress with pink highlights and a pair of cut-off sleeves that connected to a pink gem, which connected to her dress.

"You're Croire?" Hikan questioned as he stared at Croire with shock.

"S-She's...like an evil version of Mini-Histoire..." I commented.

"Oh! Maybe we should call her Darksty!" Neptune suggested.

"Don't give me a damn nickname!" Croire demanded.

"C-Croire?" Rei spoke up. "What did you come here to tell us?"

Croire spun back to Rei and said, "Oh yeah! Well, simply put, the other Rei is going to blow up your dimension!"

We all stared at Croire with shocked expressions. "WHAT!?"

"Yeah, yeah. Be shocked," Croire grinned widely before waving us a goodbye. "Well, I'll see you all later! Have a fun trip to Hell!"

*Ching!*

"Wait!"

Before we could reach out towards Croire, she disappeared into a blinding light.

"Shit!" I clenched my fists and stared at where Croire had once been. "She probably went back to Hyper Dimension!"

"U-Um, you guys might want to take a look outside," Hikan suggested as he stuck his head out of a nearby window. "This week's weather forecast is looking extremely cloudy!"

"Huh?" Neptune and I pulled another window open and stared at the sky. "Holy crapperoni!"

I gulped at the sight. "Woah..."

"The sky's darker than black!" Neptune shouted.

"Hey! Neptuna, Ploot! Come outside!" Peashy shouted.

We all ran outside at Peashy's words. As we opened the door, beams of light began to shoot down from the clouds and strike down Planeptune. We all watched in horror as more and more beams struck Planeptune.

"What do we do!?" Neptune shouted.

"We do the logical thing," I said before turning back to the others. "Everyone, return back to your nations! Once we get the citizens to safety, and everything has calmed down a bit, we'll all meet back up here."

Everyone nodded. "Right!"

*Ching!*

As the other CPUs dashed away, they activated their HDD forms and began to fly back to their nations. That left Plutia, Neptune, Nepgear, Peashy, IF, Compa, Mini-Histoire, Hikan and I.

IF turned to face us. "Neptune, Lady Plutia, go help the citizens get to safety! Hikan, Silver, you two go escort the citizens and make sure they're not injured!"

We saluted. "Right!"

Mini-Histoire nodded. "I'll take Peashy, Nepgear and Compa with me. I need assistance in what I'm going to be doing!( ´△｀)"

IF nodded. "Alright. I'll go gather information!"

"We'll meet back here once it calms down," Hikan said. "Let's go!"

And, at Hikan's last words, we all dashed away...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And there's the chapter's end! We're rapidly approaching the ending of Arc Three! I'll upload a chapter every weekday during this week so that we can wrap up Arc Three! Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Would you rather end your life before the apocalypse begins or try to survive it?**


	122. Chapter 122

Chapter 122

"Mommy, help!"

"Helen, move!"

*BOOM!*

Before a girl was smashed by a boulder, I sped to her side and formed a barrier over her, shielding her from the impact. As the boulder was smashed into thousands of tiny pieces, I let the barrier disappear while Hikan pulled the girl out of the rubble she had been stuck under.

Hikan patted the terrified girl's head. "Don't worry. You'll be fine."

The girl stared at us with tear-stained eyes. "T-Thank you!"

"Helen!" A nearby woman, which I assumed to be her mother, ran up to the girl and hugged her tightly. "Please don't ever wander off like that again!" The mother scolded the girl.

The girl bowed her head. "I-I'm sorry..."

"Don't say sorry to me!" The mother said. "Apologize to these two young men for causing them the trouble of having to save you!"

Hikan and I simply smiled at the woman. "It's no problem, miss," Hikan reassured her. "Right now, everyone needs help."

The woman nodded and flashed us a smile through her trembling lips. "T-Thank you both!"

I nodded. "Work your way to where everyone is evacuating."

At my last words, the mother left with her daughter towards where Neptune and Plutia were evacuating everyone. I looked up at the sky. "Hey, Hikan."

Hikan turned his attention to me. "Hm, what's up?"

I pointed up towards the sky. "Look up at the sky..."

"The sky?" Hikan tilted his head up to face the dark skies. "Yeah, it's still dark. So?"

"Haven't you noticed?" I asked. "The number of beams striking down have been gradually decreasing."

"Really?" Hikan stared up at the pitch black sky. "Yeah, you're right. Maybe the other Rei is finally getting tired."

I shook my head. "Probably not. If she's stronger than the Rei from this dimension, then she's anything but tired. She probably has a reason for slowing down..."

A few hours had gone by since we had all separated. While Neptune and Plutia had been guiding people to safety, Hikan and I were in charge of making sure none of the citizens died. During those past few hours, we had saved several people.

"Sillvy...! Hiiiikan...!"

"Hm?" We both turned towards the source of the person calling out to us. Running towards us were Neptune and Plutia.

We smiled as they reached us. "Did you two finish evacuating the citizens already?" I asked.

Neptune and Plutia both nodded proudly. "Yep! They're all in their Fallout shelters!"

I smiled as Hikan chuckeld at Neptune's statement. "Good. Then let's head back to the Basilicom. Everything has calmed down a bit, and I believe it's our only option now that everyone is safe."

We all nodded and headed back towards the Basilicom.

* * *

After we had returned to the Basilicom, shortly after, everyone else also returned to the Basilicom. The CPUs were all wearing worried expressions.

"How's it going on your end?" I asked Noire as we all settled into the Basilicom.

Noire let out a sigh and rested her chin on her hands. "Terrible. Everything has calmed down a bit, but my nation has taken way too much damage. To top that off, all of the citizens are scared out of their minds."

"It's the same there, huh?" Vert asked.

"I guess we're all dealing with the same issue then," Blanc stated.

"Did you guys at least evacuate your citizens?" Hikan asked.

Vert nodded. "Yes, they're all in a safe place."

"How did your experience go?" Neptune asked her younger sister.

Nepgear let out a sigh. "Not well. We tried contacting Histoire several times, but we couldn't reach her."

Hikan let out a sigh and put a hand to his forehead. "That sounds like Histy. She's usually pretty reliable and all, but she's never reliable when we actually need her to be."

"M-Maybe she's too busy..." Nepgear suggested.

"I doubt it, little Nep," Neptune denied. "Knowing her, she's probably trapped under a bookshelf or something..."

"That sounds sooo much like my Hiiisty..." Plutia commented.

"Anyways," I started, ignoring Plutia's comment, "what now?"

"We should probably try to go fight the other Rei," Noire suggested. "If she's the source of this, then all we have to do is defeat her."

I nodded. "That's a pretty good plan. But how are we going to get there? We can't contact Histoire to create a gateway back home."

Mini-Histoire scratched her small head. "Maybe I'll try calling her agai—ABABABABABABA!(((( ;°Д°))))"

"Woah! Mini-Histy set her phone to vibrate!" Neptune commented.

"Answer it, Hiiiisty...!" Plutia whined.

"I am!《ﾟДﾟ》" Mini-Histoire said as a holographic image of Histoire was cast into the room.

"Sorry for the wait, Neptune," Histoire apologized.

"Histy, what's going on!" Neptune asked. "And where have you been?!"

"W-Well, it's been pretty crazy over here as well. The CPUs had devised a plan and had head out to stop Rei Ryghts, while Tolise has been busy evacuating everyone from Planeptune. However, no real progress has been made," Histoire explained. "As to where I've been... I got trapped under a bookshelf."

"Are you serious?" I facepalmed at Histoire's confession.

"It's pretty sad that Nep can call these things..." IF muttered.

"Histy, what do we do?" Hikan asked.

"About that," Histoire let out a sigh. "Neptune, Nepgear, Silver and Hikan, I need you all to return home right now."

"But how?" Nepgear questioned. "We don't have enough shares. We're still trying to recover from that share plummet from Eden."

"It doesn't matter," Histoire said. "If we don't do this now, we may never get another chance at it again."

Neptune let out a sigh. "Yeah, yeah. Let's do it."

I nodded. "Histoire's right. It's now or never."

"Then head outside first," Histoire instructed. "Once outside, we will begin."

And, at Histoire's instructions, we all left the Basilicom and headed outside...

* * *

After walking for a bit, we arrived at a clearing in the plains. "Alright, we're out in an open place," Hikan stated. "What now?"

"Good," Histoire nodded. "Now we shall begin."

Neptune nodded. "Beam me up, Scotty!"

I also nodded. "I'm ready..."

"U-Um, don't you two think you should be a bit more sad?" Nepgear asked.

"Yeah," Hikan said, "read the atmosphere."

"I don't liiiike this..." Plutia murmured.

"Are you going on a field trip, Neptuna?" Peashy wondered.

"She is," Vert stated. "But don't worry. You still have me!"

"Nep-Nep, I don't want you to go..." Compa whined.

"I-It's not like I'm crying or anything!" Noire claimed as tears streamed down her face. "T-They won't leave! S-So stop making such a big deal! I just got something in my eye!"

Blanc sighed. "Y'know, you're trying to hard," Blanc called out Noire. "Just say you're sad."

"I-I'm not!" Noire shouted.

Neptune and I exchanged looks before sighing. "Look, the last time we did this, we didn't even leave because Nepgear and Hikan were sent over here," Neptune explained. "Plus, I'm not exactly the best at sad goodbyes."

I nodded. "Sorry, but if we don't do this now, we may be stuck here forever while Rei destroys both of our dimensions."

"WAHHHH...! Neppy...!" Plutia tackled Neptune to the ground and clung to her.

"I don't want Neptuna to go!" Peashy said as she also hugged Neptune. "I like Neptuna way more than Bert!"

I looked over at Vert; she wasn't saying anything, just staring at Peashy with a gaped mouth.

"Nep-Nep!" Compa also joined in on the hug.

"Why are you all getting so sad!?" Noire questioned. "I told you it would be fine!"

"Neptune," Histoire spoke up, catching our attention. "I'm sorry, but we can't waste anymore time."

"Uh-huh," Neptune nodded as everyone backed away from her.

Histoire turned to face Neptune, Nepgear and Hikan. "Since you three are CPUs, I'm going to have you do something. I'm not sure if Hikan can do this since he's a CPU without a nation."

"Let's just try it," Hikan said.

"Very well," Histoire turned to me. "Silver, just watch. If you do anything reckless, then what happens afterwards won't be a pretty sight."

I nodded. "I got it."

"Very well," Histoire turned back to Hikan, Neptune and Nepgear. "You three, start releasing the shares you have all gathered."

"Okay," Hikan nodded and closed his eyes. "RAAAAH!"

*Boom!*

"Wowzers!" Neptune leaped back as a fiery red aura and purple aura began to emit from Hikan. "Wow, his power level is rising!"

"Neptune, Nepgear, you two do the same as Hikan," Histoire instructed.

"Right!" Nepgear nodded and also closed her eyes. "HAAAAH!"

*Boom!*

A fiery pink aura burst from Nepgear and shined brightly. Neptune turned back to me. "Silver! What does the scouter say about her power level!?"

I balled up a fist. "IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAND!"

"WHAT!? NO WAY!" Neptune shouted.

"Please, just release your share energy, Neptune," Histoire begged.

"Okay!" Neptune nodded before closing her eyes. "HAAAAAAAH!"

*BOOM!*

A fiery lilac aura shot up from Neptune, causing her hair to stand up as well. "HAAAAH!"

"Yes, that's good!" Histoire said. "Hm? This is quite strange. You all seemed to have gathered much more than I imagined."

"Open the gate, Histoire!" I shouted.

"Very well," Histoire nodded. "HAAAH!"

*Ching!*

As Neptune, Hikan and Npegear's auras disappeared, a blinding white light consumed our vision. When the light disappeared there was a large blue gateway standing before us. "W-What the...?"

"What...did you guys make...?" Noire asked as we all stared at the gateway in awe.

"Well, Noire, it's clearly a portal!" Neptune said. "Duh!"

"H-Histoire, what is this?" Nepgear asked as she stared at the large gateway.

"I-I'm not quite sure..." Histoire said. "I believe this might be the result of all the shares you all gathered. It appears that you've gathered enough to create a wormhole between our dimensions."

"Woah, that's pretty cool," Neptune muttered.

"Not only that, but, because of it's size, you all can travel between the dimensions as you please," Histoire explained. "I-I'm just worried that this is some type of taboo."

"Don't sweat it, Histy!" Neptune reassured her. "Worry about that after we deal with this!"

Histoire nodded and sighed. "Fine..."

"Yay! We don't have to leave Neppy!" Plutia smiled brightly with glee.

"I get to stay with Neptuna!" Peashy also grinned widely.

"S-See?" Noire sniffled. "I told you it would be alright!"

Blanc tisked. "Yeah right..."

"Alright!" Neptune turned back to us. "Everyone, let's go to my dimension and kick some butts up!"

"Nep, wait!" IF called out. "You're forgetting something!"

"Iffy! That was the perfect end to the scene! Why'd you butt in!?" Neptune asked.

"Yeah, it's great if you go to save the world and all, but who's going to watch over this dimension?" IF pointed out. "I'm only a guild agent, Compa can only heal minor injuries and Histoire is too small for too much labor."

I nodded. "IF is right. If we don't have anyone watching over this dimension, it might not end well."

"So whoever is left behind won't be in the final battle..." Vert muttered.

"U-Um...Neppy Jr. ….." Plutia turned to Nepgear. "Please..."

"No!" Nepgear clung to my sleeve. "I'm top priority here!"

"Don't worry, friends!" A voice boomed. "With the power of friendship, we can make it through this!"

"That voice..." We all turned to the source of the booming voice. It was Copypaste. "COPYPASTE!"

"Hey there, friends!" Copypaste waved at us as he approached us. "Don't worry. Just leave everything to us! You guys go ahead and defeat Rei!"

"Copypaste... You will forever be my bro," Hikan said as he stared up at Copypaste.

"Wait, what do you mean by us?" Noire asked.

"He means us, dummy!" Abnes stated as she appeared from behind Copypaste. "That rat should be here soon anyways."

Warechu tisked as he followed close behind Abnes. "I don't know why you're forcing me to come here. I'm not gonna do anything!"

"Please, Mister Mouse!" Compa begged. "It'll make me a super, happy Compa!"

Warechu, at Compa's words, suddenly snapped to attention. "I'll do all that I can to protect Gamindustri!" Warechu said. "As long as I get some Compa action later!"

"H-Huh?" Histoire gasped. "What's happening? My signal is being intercepted!"

*Kshh!*

After a bit of static, Histoire's image had changed to Anonydeath's image. "Hello darlings~"

Noire face twisted into disgust after seeing Anonydeath's face. "Ugh, not you again..."

"What are you doing here?" Hikan asked.

"Well, as thanks for saving me from Rei, I'm going to help you watch over this Gamindustri. Also, Baddy is watching over Lastation right now..." Anonydeath stated. "So run off and stop that naughty Rei. Just make sure to snap a few pictures when you defeat her."

Hikan nodded. "Right!"

I turned back to Rei, who had followed us. "Make sure, to protect Gamindustri. We'll make sure to stop the other you."

Rei gave a timid nod at my words. "O-Okay... G-Good luck."

"Alright!" Neptune turned back to everyone. "Let's all go save Gamindustri!"

We all nodded. "Yeah!"

"Alright then," Neptune turned back to face the wormhole. "Allons-y!"

And at Neptune's last words, we all jumped through the wormhole...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Alright, here's the chapter's end. I hope you enjoyed the references I put in this chapter. Also, by the end of this week, Arc Three shall be concluded. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Would you rather have the ability to control time or be a Time Lord?**


	123. Chapter 123

Chapter 125

"Wooow...! We're here already...?" Plutia looked around the area she, along with the rest of us, had arrived at.

"Wow! It feels so nostalgic to be back on this turf!" Neptune sucked in a fresh breath of air and smiled. "It's so good to be back!"

"Man, it's been years since I've seen these lands," Hikan also smiled.

"It...kind of feels weird being back here after so long," I muttered.

After traveling through the giant wormhole, we had all arrived in a forest back in Hyper Dimension's Planeptune.

Blanc glanced behind her and smiled. "Okay, the portal's still there, so we can go back to the other dimension if we need to."

"That's good," Noire said. "At least we know we won't be stuck here forever."

"Neptuna's world looks so cool!" Peashy shouted with a bright smile.

Nepgear looked around her. "We're actually pretty close to Planeptune's Basilicom, so let's hurry to the Basilicom. Follow me!"

We all nodded and followed Nepgear to the Planeptune Basilicom.

* * *

"Yo, Histy! We're home!" Neptune shouted as we entered the Basilicom.

"Oh, you four!" Histoire smiled brightly at us as she came out from behind a door. "It's so good to see you all. Welcome home!"

"Wooow...! You're Histy is sooo big...!" Plutia commented.

"D-Did Histy grow up?" Peashy asked.

Hikan shook his head. "Nope. This is just our Histy. Even though she's bigger, she acts pretty much the same as your Histy!"

"Let's save the chatting for later," Noire said before she turned to Histoire. "Histoire, we need you all to explain the situation to us."

Histoire nodded. "Alright. I'll summarize the events of what happened of today."

"Hey, Histoire, what's up with all the noise?" A familiar voice shouted from another room.

"W-Wait..." Nepgear turned to the door as it opened once again. Emerging from the door were Uni, Rom and Ram. "Uni! Rom! Ram!"

"N-Nepgear!?" Uni stood there for a second, bewildered, before getting up in Nepgear's face. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming back today! You could've told me beforehand!"

"I-I'm sorry..." Nepgear apologized while staring at Uni with a sorry look. "I-I didn't know this was all going to happen..."

Uni crossed her arms and turned her head away from Nepgear. "Hmph! ...I guess I can accept your apology this time!"

Hikan and I let out simultaneous sighs. "Still pretty Tsundere, huh?" Hikan muttered.

I nodded. "I guess it just runs in their family."

"Miss Nepgear, I'm so glad you're back..." Rom said quietly as she clung to Nepgear's leg. "C-Can you read me a story later?"

Nepgear nodded. "U-Um, sure..."

"Man, you're such a dummy, Nepgear!" Ram shouted at Nepgear's face. "You didn't even bring back any types of souvenirs!"

Nepgear could only stare back at Ram with a guilty expression. "S-Sorry... I'll come play with you later if it makes up for it..."

"Woooow...! Neppy Jr. is soooo popular...!" Plutia said.

Neptune nodded. "Yeah, these littler gals prefer the younger me over me..."

"Goodness, it feels so good to be wanted again..." Nepgear murmured.

"Hm?" Uni, noticing the Ultra Dimension Noire, turned to her. "W-Why's Noire here? I thought she had gone out with the other CPUs. And why is she dressed so...weird?"

"U-Um... Why is Blanc dressed like a strawberry cake?" Rom asked quietly.

"A-A...strawberry cake?" Blanc stared at Rom with a surprised expression.

"Well, these are your older sisters!" Neptune said as she pointed towards the Ultra Dimension CPUs. "Except their not because they're from the other dimension!"

"S-So, these are the little sisters that we have in this dimension?" Noire asked.

Hikan nodded. "Yep."

"Well, where's my sister?" Vert asked.

"U-Um..." Nepgear stared at Vert with a sad expression.

I let out a sigh. "Vert...you don't have a sister, even in this dimension..."

Vert bowed her head, an aura of disappointment emitted from her. "At least I still have Peashy..."

"Wait, if you're my little sister, then you should be more confident," Noire lectrued Uni. "You're too nervous!"

"I-I'm sorry!" Uni apologized before bowing. "So even in the other dimension, Noire is still really strict..."

"A-Am I?!" Noire was taken back by Uni's words. "I-I didn't mean it in a bad way! I-It was just some advice!"

Rom and Ram walked up to the Ultra Dimension Blanc and stared at her awkwardly. "…"

"…"

"…" Blanc let out a sigh before shrugging. "I don't really know what to say. I'm never too good with these situations."

"Hey!" Ram ran over to Peashy. "You want to be my best friend?"

Peashy's eyes sparkled. "Wow! I get to be Ram's friend! Yeah!"

While the others were conversing amongst each other, Hikan, Neptune, Nepgear, Plutia, Histoire and I were all watching from a distance. I looked over at Histoire, who looked like she was about to snap.

I let out a sigh. "Guys! We gotta focus!"

The others immediately snapped their attention to us and nodded. I smiled. "Alright," I looked back over at Histoire. "Histoire, take it away."

Histoire smiled. "Alright," Histoire's face switched to a serious face, and she turned to everyone. "If you all hadn't been talking, then this would have been easier."

"Histoire, we're sorry," Noire apologized. "But wasting anymore time won't help. Just tell us the situation."

"Very well. I shall give a very brief summary," Histoire let out a sigh. "About half an hour ago, Rei Ryghts and her group launched an attack on Planeptune. Right now, Rei is in the center of the city. I have sent the CPUs out after Rei, but I haven't heard back from them. Tolise is also with them, and we have put the CPU Candidates on standby."

I nodded. "I see..."

"When they say standby, it's just a fancy way of saying we're not good enough to be out there helping them," Uni added. "That's why Noire left me behind..."

"Uni..." Nepgear walked over to Uni and patted her back.

"So all we have to do is get to the city center and stop Rei, right?" Neptune asked.

Histoire nodded. "Yes. Please, all of you, use your might to save and protect both Gamindustris."

Neptune nodded. "Don't worry, Histy! We're the main characters! We can't lose!"

Histoire nodded. "I do hope that you're right..."

"W-Wait!" Before we could all walk out the Basilicom doors, Uni called back to us, and we all turned back to her. "C-Can we come with you guys too?"

"Huh?" Nepgear stared at Uni with a shocked look.

"Yeah!" Ram agreed. "It's not fair if only Nepgear gets to hog all the fun!"

"I'm tired of sitting here..." Rom quietly added.

I shrugged. "Why not? The more, the merrier. We could use all the help we could get."

"Alright!" Uni grinned widely and pumped her fist into the air.

"Alright, gals and pals!" Neptune grinned widely. "Let's-a-Go!"

As Neptune said her final words, we all stormed out of the Basilicom doors, towards the Planeptune city center...

* * *

"Wow, I knew Neptune's nation would look like a mess, but I didn't expect it to look this terrible..." Noire muttered as we all stared at the destroyed Planeptune in shock.

"H-Hey! It's not usually this messy!" Neptune claimed. "It's cause of that Rei person!"

"Neptune is right," Uni chimed in. "Yesterday, Planeptune was still a beautiful city. This only happened recently."

"Uni is right," I agreed. "Neptune may be lazy and all that, but she can still keep her nation looking fine."

Nepgear nodded. "It's pretty amazing how she does that..."

The once bright Planeptune had been given a much more gloomy tone. The towers, buildings and skyscrapers had all been switched to an obsidian gray color with crimson highlights, the sky was now a murky green color and rubble and debris were thrown everywhere.

"Noire, Neptune usually doesn't let her nation become this filthy. It was just because of the Citizens Group," Uni stated.

Noire sighed. "I know. It was just a joke..."

"W-What!?" Uni stared at Noire with a dumbfound look. "N-Noire told a joke!?"

"W-What so surprising about that!?" Noire asked. "I-I can tell jokes!"

"Noire, maybe you should try being more honest, instead of being so Tsundere," Neptune suggested. "Maybe, that way, you might actually have friends!"

"I guess the Noires just act the same, no matter what dimension they're from," Hikan said.

Noire sighed. "I'm not even going to fight back this time. Let's just hurry and get going!"

"Wait, look up ahead!" Ram pointed ahead of her, towards the large transparent-purple barrier. "It's so shiny!"

"Oh, hey, Noire," Neptune grinned and nudged at Noire, pointing ahead. "Look who's up ahead!"

Noire let out a groan. "Yeah, I see it..."

"Wooow...! Another Noire...!" Plutia, and the rest of us, all stared at the Noire up ahead, who was leaning against the barrier and murmuring to herself.

"I think she's sulking about not having any friends again," Neptune turned to the Ultra Dimension Noire. "Noire, you speak Lonelynese. You go sort out that issue!"

"Just shut up!" The Ultra Dimension Noire barked. "Let's just hurry over there and see what she's doing. Maybe she knows how to get past that barrier."

"Alright!" Neptune dashed up to the Hyper Dimension Noire, causing us to chase after her. "Hey, Lonely Tsundere Heart!"

"Ack!" The Hyper Dimension Noire suddenly snapped from her trance and faced us with a panicked expression. "N-Neptune!? W-What are you doing here!? And did you hear what I was saying?!"

Neptune shrugged. "Something about you not having any friends. Anyways, do you want to be the Pseudo Noire or do you want the one tagging along with me to be called that?"

"You can't call either of us that!" Both the Noires shouted as they got close to Neptune's face.

"H-Hey! I'm sorry!" Neptune apologized. "It was an honest question!"

Uni sighed. "So Noire really isn't cool..."

"Ignoring that, can we get past this barrier?" Hikan asked. "And why are you standing here on your own? Shouldn't you be with the other CPUs?"

The Hyper Dimension Noire sighed and crossed her arms. "Actually, we all played a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, and I lost. So Tolise, Blanc and Vert went on ahead while I was left here to allow a passageway through the barrier," Noire explained before pointing to a small doorway in between the barrier, being held up by the Hyper Dimension Noire's rainbow energy. "See?"

"I see," Vert smiled. "So you're acting as a doorway for us!"

"WHAT!?" The Hyper Dimension Noire stared at Vert with shock. "N-No! One of you guys are supposed to switch with me so that I can be in the final battle!"

"Nah, you weren't even in this arc much," Neptune pointed out. "Maybe next time!"

"H-Hey!" The Hyper Dimension Noire turned to her other self. "Back me up here!"

"U-Um... Keep doing your best?" The Ultra Dimension Noire gave her other self a thumbs-up.

The Hyper Dimension Noire stared at her other self in disbelief. "So, given the situation, I'd abandon myself!?"

"Yeah, yeah! You can sulk once we leave Noire!" Neptune said as she turned back to the rest of us. "Let's go, everyone!"

We all nodded and quickly passed through the barrier, leaving the Hyper Dimension Noire...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Chapter done! Every year, a Noire suffers from loneliness. Please, end their suffering today by visitng . Your donation could save a lonely Noire. No, I'm just kidding. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Would you rather stay with your friend, even if they weren't wanted, or leave them and go with people who are more popular?**


	124. Chapter 124

Chapter 124

"Hey, look over towards that way!" Neptune pointed ahead as we kept walking. "It's my Vert and Blanc!"

"Hm?" Hikan stepped up to Neptune and looked towards where she was gazing at. "Oh, hey! They're right up there!"

Ahead of us, were the Hyper Dimension's Blanc and Vert in their HDD forms.

I blinked. "U-Um... Why do they look so terrified?" I pointed out.

For some reason, the Hyper Dimension Vert and Blanc were wearing terrified expressions and were slowly backing up. "Maybe we shouldn't just watch," Noire suggested. "C'mon, let's go help them out!"

We nodded and all ran towards where the two Hyper Dimension CPUs were. "Heya, heya!" Neptune called out to them.

"Wait, that voice..." The Hyper Dimension Vert turned towards our direction. "Neptune!"

"Huh?!" The Hyper Dimension Blanc smirked when she saw us. "So you dumbasses actually did decide to come home, huh?"

"Yep, yep!" Neptune nodded as we reached them. "So, what's the situation?"

Hikan and Nepgear stared at the enemy with terrified expressions. "U-Um..."

I sighed and turned Neptune's head to face the enemy that had terrified Hyper Dimension's Vert and Blanc. "See for yourself..."

"Holy something!" Neptune stared at the Iris Heart clone in terror. "Not another Sadie!"

"Yaaaay...! There's finally another me...!" Plutia stared at her fake HDD self with glee.

"It's the bigger Ploot!" Peashy stared at the fake Iris Heart with awe.

"D-Do you know this CPU?!" The Hyper Dimension Blanc asked.

Neptune nodded. "Yeah," she pointed towards Plutia, "the real Sadie is right there."

The Hyper Dimension Vert stared at Neptune in awe. "Y-You managed to tame such a foul creature?!"

"W-We sorta had an agreement," Neptune said.

Noire pouted and turned away. "It wasn't exactly an agreement I liked..."

"…" The fake Iris Heart continued to step closer towards us.

"Enough talking! You guys just take it out!" The Hyper Dimension Blanc commanded.

"Whatever," I turned to Plutia. "Plutia, you've always wanted to fight yourself. Now's your chance."

Plutia stared at me with upturned eyes. "Reaaaally...?"

I nodded. "Go all out. It'll just be you against your fake."

Plutia formed a wide grin at my words. "Okaaaaay...!"

*Ching!*

A bright light enveloped Plutia, and she actiaved her HDD form. She cracked her whip and stared at her fake with lustful eyes. "Oh my. I'm going to enjoy torturing myself..." Plutia licked her lips. "I wonder if she'll cry or beg..."

As soon as Plutia appeared, Rom hid behind Nepgear, Uni scooted closer to me and Ram just scooted back. I sighed. "This is going to be some fight..."

"It's a dream match! Sadie on Sadie action!" Neptune stared at the two Iris Hearts with curiousity. "I wonder which Sadie is better..."

"I wouldn't exactly call it a dream match," The Ultra Dimension Blanc commented. "I would rather call it a nightmare death match."

"Well then... Shall we get started?" Plutia got into a stance, ready to lunge towards her fake. "I hope I can make you beg and cry..."

I turned back to everyone. "Let's agree on staying out of this battle, okay?"

Everyone nodded without hesitation. Receiving their confirmation, I turned back to the fight that was about to unfold.

*Bang!* *Clang!* *Vrrrp!* *Thud!*

As my vision returned to the two HDD Iris Hearts, Plutia charged towards the fake Iris Heart. As Plutia closed in on the fake Iris Heart, the fake connected her whip into a blade and blocked Plutia's whiplash. However, Plutia's whip coiled around the fake's weapon, and Plutia pulled the fake down to the ground.

*Bang!*

Before Plutia could kick her fake, the fake Iris Heart let go of her weapon and sweeped at Plutia's feet, causing Plutia to lose her balance. As Plutia began to fall towards the ground, the fake Iris Heart grabbed Plutia's legs and threw her towards a nearby building. Plutia quickly regained her balanced and bounced from the side of the building, uncoiling her blade and launching towards the fake Iris Heart.

*Bang!* *Shwing!* *Shk!* *Ching!*

This time, as the fake Iris Heart readied herself for another one of Plutia's lashes, Plutia quickly switched her whip to it's blade form and filled it up with a shining purple energy. Catching the fake off guard, Plutia increased her speed in a burst and slashed at the fake Iris Heart, causing a blinding light.

*Boom!*

After hearing the sound of two loud slashes and waiting for the light to disappear, we opened our eyes to reveal to glowing slash marks, shaped like a 'v', on the fake Iris Heart's abdomen. As Plutia appeared behind her fake, she flipped her hair, and the fake Iris Heart blew up into a bright light.

*Thud!* *Crack!*

After the light disappeared, the fake Iris Heart was left lying on the ground, too injured to move. As the fake looked up, Plutia stepped up to it and cracked her whip.

"I hope you can beg!" Plutia said before she began lashing away at her fake.

*Smack!* *Crack! Crack!* *Smack!*

"Yeah, we're not letting these kids see this," I said as I took my hands and covered Rom and Ram's eyes from the horror which was CPU Iris Heart. "Hikan, cover their ears."

Hikan nodded, took off his hoodie and wrapped it tightly over Ram's ears. Following that, he placed his hands over Rom's ears. Hikan then turned to me. "Hey, shouldn't we cover Peashy's ears?"

I turned back to Peashy, who was watching Plutia's lashing quietly. I shrugged. "I think she's pretty used to it. She did fight alongside Plutia a couple times, so it should be fine."

Hikan sighed. "I guess..."

*Ching!*

As Plutia finished lashing away at herself, Plutia kicked the fake away as the fake disappeared in a flash of white light. "That was fun getting to torture myself," Plutia said with a happy smile. "Although, I'm sad I didn't scream or beg..."

"…" The Hyper Dimension Vert and Blanc stared at Plutia with complete horror. "H-How did you guys manage to get this person on your side!?" The Hyper Dimension Blanc asked.

"I-It's more like we joined her side..." Neptune muttered.

"Oh?" Plutia formed a wide grin and turned to the Hyper Dimension Vert and Blanc. "Would you two like to be punished too? I'm not satisfied by my fake. Would you two mind crying out in pain?"

"N-No!" The Hyperdimension Blanc and Vert backed up. "You already defeated your enemy!"

"Plutia, stop!" Noire demanded.

"Bad Ploot!" Peashy shouted.

"Awww... Everyone's scolding me..." Plutia's cheeks reddened a bit before she sighed. "Fine. I'll stop..."

*Ching!*

Plutia reverted back to her normal form and smiled brightly. "Ahhh! That felt so good!"

I turned back to the Hyper Dimension Vert and Blanc. "You two okay?"

The Hyper Dimension Blanc nodded. "Yeah, now that she's not here..." Blanc murmured as she quickly glanced at Plutia.

"Hmmm...?" Plutia stared at the Hyper Dimension Blanc with curiosity. "Did you say something...?"

The Hyper Dimension Blanc quickly shook her head. "N-No! Nothing!" She cleared her throat. "Anyway, you all go on ahead and stop that physco chick."

Neptune stared at her with shock. "Really? You're not going to come with us?"

"No," The Hyper Dimension Vert answered. "We'll keep these fakes at bay while you stop Rei."

I nodded. "Alright. Good luck to you two."

As they nodded, we all ran passed them and towards Rei Ryghts...

* * *

"There she is!" Blanc pointed ahead of her. Standing there was Rei, doing nothing. Hurriedly, we all ran to her. Rei was in her HDD form.

"Oh, you've all come at last..." Rei snapped her attention to us, staring us down with an impatient look. "You sure took your sweet time!"

"Rei, please stop!" Nepgear pleaded.

Rei cocked her head. "Stop what?! I'm not even doing anything!"

"H-Huh?" Nepgear stared at Rei with a puzzled expression. "Y-You mean you're not attacking the other dimension anymore?"

"Of course not! It got boring!" Rei said. "Geez, you're such a dumb girl..."

Nepgear speechlessly stared at Rei. "U-Um...s-sorry..?"

"Or maybe it's because you want me to destroy the other dimension right now?" Rei thought aloud. "Is that it?"

"P-Please don't!" Nepgear begged.

"This is ridiculous!" Uni grabbed Nepgear's shoulders and shook her. "Snap out of it! Stop caving in all the time!"

Nepgear sighed as Uni released her grip on her. "Even though I just got back, I'm being treated just like how I was back in the other dimension..."

"Are you all going to keep yapping your mouths!?" Rei asked. "Because, if you're not going to fight, I'll just kill you all right now!"

"Why are you doing this?" Neptune asked. "You sound like a crazy lady! Oh, wait..."

"Shut your damn mouth!" Rei barked. "You people are the reason why there's never peace!"

"W-What is she talking about?!" Noire asked.

Rei let out a huff. "Fine! Since I'm so generous, I shall explain it once again. You can thank me later!" Rei cleared her throat. "CPUs shouldn't exist! CPUs cause suffering, CPUs cause chaos and CPUs cause death. You CPUs aren't needed!"

"I don't' want to hear that from you," I snapped back. "You're not one to say that, considering you ARE a CPU!"

Rei tisked. "You wouldn't get it! It's because I was a CPU that people dethroned me. Those pricks! I'll kill every last one of them after I finish you all off!"

"W-Wait... Does she have the memories of the other Rei?" Vert asked.

Blanc nodded. "Seems like it..."

"There's nothing wrong with being a CPU..." Plutia stated.

"What did you just say!?" Rei twisted her head to Plutia.

"Well, being a CPU isn't a baaad thing... It's a looot of fun..." Plutia stated. "It's because I became one that I met allll of my friends...!"

"You stupid brat!" Rei snarled at Plutia. "You just wouldn't get it! You just wouldn't understand!"

*Boom!*

A bright neon blue energy burst from Rei. "I'll erase you all right now!"

We all materialized our blades, and the CPUs activated their HDD forms. "No, we'll save Gamindustri!" Neptune declared.

*Bang!* *Clang!* *Bang!*

We all charged towards Rei. Being the first to reach her, Rei didn't have much time to react. I quickly teleported behind her and slashed at her. However, an energy shield appeared at my striking spot and bounced me back. Without turning to me, Rei shot a blast of energy at me. I quickly rolled to the side just in time to evade the blast. I then swatted the blast towards the sky.

*Clang! Clang!* *Sk!* *Shwk!* *BANG!* *Boom!* *Crash!* *Smash!*

Turning back to the battle, I noticed Neptune and Noire were rushing Rei from both sides. As Rei's sheilded blocked one side, Rei dodged the other side's strikes. Neptune and Noire then suddenly jumped back, filled their blades with rainbow energy and thrusted their weapons towards Rei. Rei quickly jumped back, causing Neptune and Noire's blades to clash. Before the two CPUs could retract their blades, Rei blasted them with a large blast of energy, blasting them both into the side of a building.

*Boom!* *Boom!* *Thud! Thud!*

As Rei shot another energy blast towards them, Nepgear bounced it away with her own beam. While Rei got ready to dash towards Nepgear, Vert and Blanc sped towards Rei. As Blanc got ready to smash her hammer against Rei and Vert got ready to stab her spear into Rei's head, Rei's energy aura exploded and knocked Blanc and Vert back.

*Shk!* *Bang! Bang! Bang!* *Bang! Bang! Bang!* *KRSH!* *Boom! Boom! Boom!* *KRSH!* *SLASH!* *BOOM!*

While Rei let her energy calm, Nepgear, Rom, Ram and Uni all stepped in front of Rei. Nepgear burst her speed and dashed towards Rei. Just as Rei's energy calmed down, Nepgear sped by Rei and slashed at her, causing Rei to stumble back. Without giving her a chance to move, Nepgear quickly twisted her body back to Rei and shot several blasts towards Rei's back. As Rei stumbled forward from Nepgear's blasts, Uni shot several blasts of energy-infused bullets towards Rei's thorax, causing Rei to stagger.

While Rei was paralyzed, Rom and Ram encased Rei in a glacier of ice, freezing her in place. Following that, the two girls fired glacial shards at Rei, shattering the glacier and smashing the shards into Rei. The two of them then cast a larger glacier that froze Rei once again. Nepgear then sped towards Rei, with increased speed and, filling her blade with rainbow energy, pierced through the glacier and Rei. As Nepgear landed back onto her feet, the glacier shattered into an explosion that consumed Rei, also creating a blinding white light.

*Thud!* *Smash!* *Boom!*

As the light faded, Rei quickly emerged from the light, covered in bruises, and charged towards Nepgear. Worn out, Nepgear had no time to react as Rei grabbed her and threw her towards Uni, causing the both of them to crash to the ground. Before the two of them could get up, Rei fired a blast of energy at them. However, before the blast could touch them, an ice shield appeared and shielded Nepgear and Uni. Rei then turned her attention to Rom and Ram, the caster's of the shield. Rei quickly shot a large blast of energy at them, blasting them away and causing them to skid across the ground.

*Clang! Clang! Clang!* *CRASH!* *Clink!* *SHWING!* *Ching!* *BOOM!*

Before Rei could chase after Rom and Ram, Vert and Noire charged at Rei from the sides. Rei quickly created her barrier as Noire and Vert reached her. The two CPUs filled their weapons with rainbow energy and, after a speedy volley of strikes, sped by Rei, causing cracks in the energy barrier. As Noire and Vert flew out of the way, Blanc brought her axe down on Rei and smashed at Rei's barrier, causing the axe to smash the shield into bits. As Rei stood there dumbfounded at her shield's destruction, Blanc jumped out of the way just as Neptune rushed towards Rei.

While Neptune sped down towards Rei, Neptune became engulfed by a purple energy, causing her speed to increase further. As Rei raised her hands to guard Neptune's strike, Neptune quickly sped by Rei and slashed at her, causing all the purple energy to form a cube around Rei. Landing on her feet, the cube that surrounded Rei blew up into a rainbow light.

*Boom!* *Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash!*

As the light disappeared, Rei emerged once again. This time, her wounds were much more severe. Rei quickly let her energy burst once again, catching Neptune, Blanc, Noire and Vert in the blast. As the four CPUs were blasted away, I turned to Hikan, and the two of us sped towards Rei.

*Shk!* *FWMPSHHH!* *FWSHHH!* *HSSHHHHH!*

I slowed down time and teleported to Rei as Hikan reached her. Letting time resume, I stabbed my blade into her side. As I pulled the blade out of her, I kicked her away towards Hikan. Hikan quickly blasted Rei with a blast of fire and flew into the air. As Rei was being burnt, Hikan exploded into a fiery ball. The ball slowly took the shape of a dragon and devoured Rei, causing the area to become flooded in flames as I shielded everyone with energy barriers.

"AGGGH!" Rei let out a loud shriek as the dragon's flames consumed her.

When the flames finally settled, we all stood out of breath. I looked over at Plutia. For some reason, she hadn't participated in the battle. I let the shields disappear, and we all gathered around to see Rei. Rei was burnt, bloody and bruised terribly. Except she was still up and in her HDD form. "N-No... I-I...won't lose..."

"I...think we beat her..." Noire claimed.

"Hopefully..." Vert muttered.

Rei stared at us with bloodshot eyes. "No! I won't...lose to the likes of you!"

"This is ridiculous..." Plutia slowly began to walk towards Rei. "I'll just end you..."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And here is the cliffhanger chapter ending! Arc Three will be finished on the next chapter, no matter how long it is. After that, there will be several filler chapters before we move onto Arc Four. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Would you rather live in a nation ruled by the people or a nation ruled by a tyrant?**


	125. Chapter 125

Chapter 125

"No! I won't lose!" Rei snarled at us. "You guys all cheated! You all ganged up on me!"

Blanc turned away. "I can't watch this. It really is like looking into my past..."

"W-Wait!" Before Plutia could start lashing at Rei, the Ultra Dimension Rei ran over to us. "D-Don't...kill her..."

"Huh?" Noire stared at the Ultra Dimension Rei with surprise. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Why are you even here!?" Vert added.

"W-Well, everything in the other dimension has calmed down a bit, so I decided to come over here," Rei said. "But it took me a while. I had to run away from this world's CPUs."

Hikan shrugged. "Oh yeah. I guess we didn't tell them, did we?"

"Why are YOU here?!" The Hyper Dimension Rei asked her other self.

The Ultra Dimension Rei stared at her other self with a sympathetic expression. "I came to say sorry. It was wrong of me to push my goals and ideals onto you," she stated.

"So, what!? You just want me to give you back these powers!?" The Hyper Dimension Rei questioned.

"P-Please...?" The Ultra Dimension Rei begged.

"Yeah right!" The Hyper Dimension Rei barked. "You abandoned these powers! Why would I give them back!?"

"Oh, please reconsider!" The Ultra Dimension Rei begged.

"Actually, it's a good thing you showed up," Croire said as she floated down to us.

"W-What are you doing here!?" The Ultra Dimension Rei stared at Croire in shock. "I-I don't want that power anymore! That power ruined my life!"

Croire tisked. "Of course I'm not giving you that power. I'm taking it away from you!"

"H-Huh?" The Ultra Dimension Rei stared at Croire in confusion. "B-But...I don't have any power left. It's gone..."

"Yeah, but you've made some friends, haven't you?" Croire asked.

Hikan gritted his teeth. "Share energy..."

"A-Ahhh...!" As Croire extracted the dark energy from the Ultra Dimension Rei, the Ultra Dimension Rei crumpled to the ground. "N-No..."

"Here we are! Some freshly sucked share energy!" Croire stared at the fiery dark ball of energy with happiness. She turned to the Hyper Dimension Rei. "Alright, here you go! Time for you to go wild!"

"Urgh...!" The Hyper Dimension Rei stumbled back as she absorbed the energy. "I still had this much power left!? AHAHAHA! This is great!"

*BOOM!*

The Hyper Dimension Rei suddenly exploded and released her energy, creating a large fiery aura around her. As her power continued to rise, the ground began to quake, cracks began forming in the ground and some parts of the ground were beginning to split apart.

"N-Not again..." The Ultra Dimension Rei muttered as she fainted.

"Mommy, you're dumb!" Peashy shouted before the Ultra Dimension Rei fainted.

"HAHAHA!" The Hyper Dimension Rei continued to laugh like a maniac. "This time, I'll erase you all from existence!"

"Incredible, the ground is shaking..." Neptune stared at the ground in shock.

"I-I'm scared..." Rom murmured.

"Hey! If you're my sister, man up and stop saying such WIMPY BABY SHIT!" Blanc roared.

"This time, it really will be the final battle!" Croire announced as she floated away.

"Not much choice, huh?" I sighed and watched Rei. "This time, I might have to go all out!"

Hikan tightened the grip on his blade. "If we lose this time, both Gamindustris will surely be erased."

"Rei, you naughty girl..." Plutia took a stance and prepared herself to strike Rei. "This time, I'll deliver a most painful punishment!"

"Can we even defeat her!?" Uni asked. "We're all still worn out from that last battle against her!"

"Here," I distributed energy between all the CPUs, healing them. "That should last you a bit."

"Let's finish this!" Neptune shouted.

I sighed. "Time to go wild!"

*Bang!*

As the CPUs all lunged towards Rei, I let my vision become consumed by red and let my consciousness slip away.

* * *

 **Third Person POV**

 **"Well, I guess it's my time to be the savior,"** Silver muttered as his Devils took over his body. Suddenly, a fiery red cloak of energy formed around him, giving him his Devil armor. **"Time to die!"**

*Bang!* *Clang!* *Thud!* Bang!* *Thud!*

As Silver readied himself to attack Rei, Neptune and Noire charged and slashed at Rei. Rei quickly materialized a staff and parried both of their strikes. While the two CPUs were left wide open, Rei sent a punch at Noire's face and kicked Neptune in the gut, causing the two of them to fall to the ground. While Rei charged up a ball of energy to shoot at the two CPUs, Uni shot a beam of energy towards Rei, canceling her blast and causing Rei to jump away. As Rei jumped into the air, she instantly charged towards Uni. Upon reaching her, Rei smacked Uni's side with the staff and kicked her down towards the ground.

*Bang!* *Shwing!* Clink!* *BOOM!*

Rei then turned her attention to Nepgear, only to be met by a beam of energy right in her face. Rei quickly swatted the energy away and was met by Nepgear bringing her blade down onto Rei. Rei then filled her staff with her blue energy and cut through Nepgear's blade. While Nepgear stood there dumbfounded, Rei grabbed her and sped towards the ground, slamming Nepgear against the ground upon impact.

*Krsh!* *Boom!* *CRASH!*

Before Rei could turn to face anyone else, her feet became frozen to the ground by ice holding her down. Rei quickly turned to see Rom and Ram had casted the spell. As Rei's face twisted into disgust, she broke free from the ice and charged towards the two sisters. The two twins then began to fire shards of ice towards Rei. However, Rei continued to speed towards them as she avoided the multiple ice shards. As Rei got within five feet of the twins, Blanc came down from above Rei and brought her axe down.

*Clang! Clang!* *Clink!* *Thud!*

Rei quickly jumped back and avoided the smashing blow. She then fired a beam at the three CPUs, knocking them all back. Rei then turned around to be greeted by multiple green spears targetted right towards her face. Rei quickly swatted all the spears away and, as she swatted the last spear away, was met by the sight of Vert, ready to stab her spear through Rei. Rei dodged to the side and avoided Vert's spear by hairs. Before Vert had a chance to turn back to face Rei, Rei punched Vert in the back of her head, knocking Vert to the ground.

*Boom!* *Crash!* *Slam!*

Right as Vert fell to the ground, Peashy sprang up from the ground and, catching Rei off guard, threw Rei towards a nearby building. Upon impact, the building crumbled to the ground as Rei crashed into it, creating smoke and debris. As Peashy chased after Rei, Rei suddenly burst from the building's ruins and rushed towards Peashy. Before Peashy could land a strike on Rei, Rei grabbed Peashy by her hair and threw her towards the ground, creating a crater around Peashy. Rei then slammed her body down onto Peashy, causing Peashy to cough out blood. Jumping off of Peashy, Rei turned to the last three still standing, Hikan, Silver and Plutia.

Rei stared at Silver and Hikan with dirty looks. "I'll make you two pay for stabbing and burning me!"

 **"I'd like to see you try, ya old hag!"** Silver barked back.

"You damn, disrespectful boy!" Rei gritted her teeth. "I'll make you wish you never said those words!"

"Then, please, do come as fast as you can," Plutia replied.

"Fine!" Rei yelled before she charged towards the three of them.

*Clang!* *Fwshh!* *Thud!* *Crack! Crack!* *Smack!* *Vrrrp!*

As Rei closed in on them, Silver quickly stepped up to Rei and slowed down time. While Rei slowly moved, Silver slashed her staff away and let time resume, causing Rei to stand there with a shocked look. While Rei was in her state of shock, Hikan blasted a ball of fire towards her. Snapping back to her senses, Rei dodged the fireball by only hairs but was met by the sight of Plutia.

Rei was then kicked and chased to the ground by Plutia. While Rei tried to get up to attack Plutia, Plutia landed on the ground and stomped her heel into Rei's gut, knocking the breath out of Rei. Plutia then began to lash her whip at Rei. Rei struggled to evade the hits as Plutia kept lashing at her. After several lashes, Plutia brought her whip down onto Rei once again. This time, Plutia coiled the whip around Rei and flung Rei into the air as the whip uncoiled itself.

As the bruised Rei was flung into the air, Silver and Hikan flew up after her. Upon reaching her, Hikan burst into flames and took the form of a fire dragon once again, while Silver released his energy. The red energy then surrounded Silver and took the form of a red, giant Tengu-like warrior with a pair of wings and a large katana blade.

*Bang!* *SHWING!* *FWSSHH!* *BOOM!* *HSHHH!*

Just as Rei regained her balance, Hikan and Silver charged towards her. While the fire dragon sped towards Rei, a scarlet energy enveloped the giant Tengu warrior and increased it's speed towards Rei. As Rei guarded herself against the two attacks, the Tengu warrior slashed it's large blade against Rei, cutting through clouds as well as creating a blinding red flash of light. Before Rei had time to recover from Silver's attack, Hikan's fire dragon drove into Rei and sped her down towards the ground, crashing upon impact.

As flames erupted from Rei's impact, flames began to shoot out from the ground's cracks. Before the fire swallowed everyone, the CPUs flew into the air, carrying the Ultra Dimension Rei, as Silver floated back down and let his Tengu form disappear.

Eventually, the flames burned away and the CPUs and Silver stared at where Hikan and Rei were.

 **"Well, I guess I'm finished here,"** Silver announced as he let his consciousness back in. His vision faded to black as the immense strength left his body...

* * *

 **Silver's POV**

I blinked a few times as I let my vision focus. As my vision steadied itself, I looked over at where the Hyper Dimension Rei was; she was lying on the ground and Hikan was standing over her.

"Huh?" We all backed up as the dark energy escaped from Rei. "H-Hey, what do we do about that?" Noire asked.

"I-I'm not sure..." Nepgear muttered.

"You have to...destroy or absorb it somehow..." The Ultra Dimension Rei coughed out. "If you don't, then the other me will keep coming back to fight..."

"But how?!" Nepgear asked.

"Alright, sure," Plutia shrugged.

"Do you have a plan, Sadie?" Neptune asked.

Plutia chuckled at Neptune's question. "Of course not! But do you believe that there isn't anything that will not bow down to me!?"

"T-That's...really convincing..." Nepgear muttered.

"Huh!?" Plutia gritted her teeth as the dark energy suddenly sped towards her and began trying to consume her. "You really want to try me?!"

"That is not good!" Vert said as she stared at Plutia in horror. "If you combine Plutia's crazy and sadist personality with the insanity of that energy, then..."

I gulped. "Gamindustri would be destroyed..."

"C'mon, Ploot!" Peashy cheered. "You can do it!"

"This thing is truly gong at me hard," Plutia said. "But I won't lose to the likes of you!"

Neptune stepped forward. "Plutie, if it's too much, then I'll—"

Before Neptune could offer her assistance to Plutia, the Ultra Dimension Rei ran up to Plutia and grabbed her hand, letting the energy seep into her as well. "I'll help you Plutia!"

"No, you should back the hell off!" Noire barked.

"No, let her do it," I suggested. "If she truly is the wielder of that power, then she has the best chance at stopping it!"

"You can do it, Plutia!" Hikan cheered.

"RRAHHH!"

"AHHHH!"

A blinding light flashed our visions as Plutia and Rei let out cries.

After a second, the light faded. Plutia and Rei were standing off in the distance quietly and the dark energy had disappeared.

"D-Did Plutia do it?" Hikan asked.

Plutia sighed. "Yes, although it did give me quite the rough ride..."

Nepgear sighed. "That's a relief..." I turned to the Ultra Dimension Rei. "What about that one?"

"…" We all stared at the Ultra Dimension Rei intently.

"Ha...Hahaha..." The Ultra Dimension Rei began to laugh aloud.

"D-Don't tell me she...!" Hikan rasied his blade towards the Rei laughing before us.

"N-No! I'm fine, I swear!" The Ultra Dimension Rei suddenly said with a panicked expression. "I was just a bit happy that I finally accepted my powers..."

"Well don't do it again!" Blanc demanded. "It's bad for my heart!"

The Ultra Dimension Rei bowed her head. "S-Sorry..."

*Ching!*

The CPUs suddenly reverted back to their normal forms. Plutia smiled at the Ultra Dimension Rei. "Good job, Rei..! You really, really, reeeeally tried your best...!"

"Good job, mommy!" Peashy added.

"N-No, it was thanks to you that I was able to accomplish it," The Ultra Dimension Rei muttered.

"I guess it's finally over now," Blanc announced.

I nodded and turned to the Hyper Dimension Rei, who had reverted back to her original human form. "What do we do about her?"

"We'll put her in custody and sort it out later," Hikan said. "I think that's a pretty simple punishment."

"I'd rather put her in jail," Blanc muttered. "But this is your dimension, so do whatever you want..."

Hikan and I began to carry the Hyper Dimension Rei back to the Basilicom as the other Rei and the CPUs all hurried back as well.

I turned to Hikan. "We did it..."

He returned my smile with a bright, wide grin. "Hell yeah we did!"

* * *

 **Third Person POV**

A few days had passed since both of the Gamindustris had been saved from Rei Ryghts. Peace was slowly beginning to return and all seemed to be resolved.

"What should we do about this?（´･△･｀）" Mini-Histoire asked her bigger self.

"I'm not quite sure," Histoire admitted. "It doesn't appear to be showing any signs of disappearing anytime soon."

"On the bright side, both of our dimensions are advancing at the same rate now,( ﾟ▽ﾟ)/" Mini-Histoire pointed out.

"I suppose that is true..." Histoire confessed.

Suddenly, Neptune hopped through the portal and smiled at the two Histoires. "Hey, Histys! I'm gonna go hang with Plutie today!"

Mini-Histoire nodded. "She's currently at the Basilicom.(*^▽^*)"

Neptune nodded and began running towards the Basilicom. "Thanks a lot, Histy!"

As the two Histoires watched Neptune run off, the smaller Histoire released a sigh. "Whenever I see those two, it feels so dumb to worry about these types of things.( ＾∇＾)"

The bigger Histoire nodded. "Yes, let's worry about it later and try to enjoy it while we can..."

"Hiiiiisty...!" Plutia ran up to Mini-Histoire and stopped right in front of her. "Can I go see Neppy...?"

"Huh?(・_・;)" Mini-Histoire stared at Plutia with a confused expression. "That's weird. Neptune just ran off to our Basilicom..."

"Really...?" Plutia questioned. "Okaaay...! Bye Histy...!"

The two Histoires watched Plutia run back towards her Basilicom before letting out laughs...

* * *

Back in Hyper Dimension, the Rei Ryghts from that world continued to work without a break as IF carefully monitored her.

Rei turned back to IF. "Why do I have to do this? I swear I didn't destroy the city..."

"That's not what Nep told me!" IF said. "And since I'm sure you're our city destroyer, we gotta work you 'til you can't work anymore!"

"B-But...I can't work anymore..." Rei muttered.

"You should be thankful," IF stated. "If this was me, I would have given you a more severe punishment. But Nep and 'em all decided to be nice and just have you help rebuild Planeptune. So get working!"

"Uugh..." Rei collapsed to the floor. "P-Please... I need a break..."

"I'm back!" Compa shouted as she carried a tray filled with glasses of juice. "I brought back some yummy, electrolyte-rich juice!"

"Oh," IF turned back to Compa, "I guess we can take a break then..."

"T-Thank you..." Rei coughed out as she rested on the ground.

"But afterwards, you'll be working to the bone!" IF declared.

"Uggh..." Rei planted her face into the ground and sobbed quietly...

* * *

"Can you please go with me?" Uni begged Noire as they sat at the table eating lunch. "Everyone else goes and sees their other self."

"I'm alright, Uni," Noire claimed. "You can just go by yourself after we finish eating."

Uni picked at her food and pouted. "I don't know why you're so against it though..."

"It's just too weird..." Noire muttered. "Just seeing my other self right in front of me... It's just too weird!"

Uni heaved a sigh. "Man. And I thought I'd get to finally see two Noires standing next to each other..."

"Look, just go after we finish, alright?" Noire advised as she ignored Uni's comment.

Uni let out another sigh. "Fine..."

* * *

Back in Ultra Dimension, Warechu was helping Arfoire harvest her eggplants.

"Alright, I've finished harvesting the last of 'em," Warechu announced as he set down the basket full of eggplants. "Am I done for today, granny?"

"Good job, rat," Arfoire nodded. "You're done, but don't call me a granny! Here, in this place, you'll call me president!"

"Uh...sure..." Warechu scratched his head. "I don't really care though as long as I get paid... But...why eggplants?"

"Because I've discovered the infinite possiblitlies of eggplants!" Arfoire claimed. "Eventually, I'll use these things to crush the CPUs!"

"Sure, whatever..." Warechu muttered. "When am I getting paid?"

Arfoire nodded. "I'll get that to you eventually, maybe even a bit more for overtime."

"That's a pretty sick deal," Warechu said. "But I gotta dash to my other job."

Arfoire sighed. "Alright. Thanks for doing your work."

Warechu nodded before he dashed off.

* * *

"I hope Warechu is alright..." The Rei of the Ultra Dimension murmured. "I hope nothing bad happened to him..."

"Forget about him, and let's just start the meeting!" Abnes shouted.

Rei shook her head. "I can't do that. We can't start until every member is present."

"Sorry I'm late," Warechu quickly apologized as he entered the meeting room.

"You sure took your sweet time!" Abnes barked. "What? Are you stalking that nurse lady again!?"

"Unfortunately, no," Warechu responded. "I was at my other job, so give me a break!"

"U-Um, you two?" Rei called out to Abnes and Warechu while they engaged in an argument.

"Shut you mouth!" Abnes and Warechu barked at Rei before they resumed their argument.

"I swear, those two..." Rei sighed. She then twisted her face into an evil one and cast a shadow over her face. "Man, it really does take a lot of guts to talk back to me! Care to say that again, you two weasels!?"

Abnes and Warechu tensed up at Rei's change in tone and snapped to attention. "N-No ma'am!"

Warechu shivered. "If I keep talking like that, she might turn into that saidstic CPU!"

Rei smiled as Warechu and Abnes snapped to her attention. "I guess we've all grown a bit, haven't we?"

* * *

Noire let out a sigh as she walked back to her Basilicom. "It's great that we've saved the world and all, but there are still some things that haven't been resolved..."

Noire opened the doors to the Basilicom and walked towards the elevator. "Like how we still haven't figured out a way to turn those kids back to normal."

Mr. Badd cleared his throat as Noire entered her room. "You're late."

Noire stared at Mr. Badd with a dumbfound expression. "Huh? Since when did you become my parent?"

"We're sorry, Lady Noire," a girl apologized as she appeared from behind Mr. Badd. "Our father is just very excited."

"We're sorry if he scared you," another girl bowed as she also appeared from behind Mr. Badd.

"Y-Yeah, that's great and all, but how?!" Noire asked. "How did you all return to your human forms?!"

"I'm not quite sure myself!" Mr. Badd said. "I went grocery shopping, and, when I came back, they were already like this!"

"It all happened so fast that we didn't even know it happened until our father returned!" Yet another girl spoke up. "A handsome man just appeared and said he'd turn us back to normal. When we woke up, we were like this!"

"Well, I'm just glad you're all alright!" Noire said. "Although, I do wonder how it happened..."

As Noire pondered the question, Anonydeath stared at her through a camera. "Well, I guess that wraps up that icky mess. Now what should my gorgeous self do next? ... Maybe fashion?"

* * *

"Yay!" Ram shouted out in glee as she and Ram rode atop Copypaste's head. "This is so fun!"

"S-So high..." Rom clung tightly to Copypaste's head as she tried her best to not swing off of him.

"Hey! Don't smash a hole in the wall like last time!" The Blanc of the Ultra Dimension roared.

"Ha! I took that mistake to heart!" Copypaste boomed. "Don't you worry about me!"

"How can you stand this noise?" The Hyper Dimension Blanc asked. "It's so loud."

The Ultra Dimension Blanc shrugged. "You get used to it."

"AH! That was close!" Ram let out a sigh and tightened her grip on Copypaste's head after coming close to falling off.

"So scary..." Rom sniffled.

"Hey, you dumbass robot!" The Hyper Dimension Blanc roared. "You better not hurt my sisters or I'll rip you to shreds!"

"It is my turn!" The Ultra Dimension Vert stated as she pulled on Peashy. "It's been precisely twenty-four hours since you took custody of Peashy!"

The Hyper Dimension Vert shook her head and pulled back on Peashy. "No! It's been approximately twenty-two hours and fifteen minutes. Meaning, you still have to wait an hour and forty-five minutes before she is yours!"

"Um, Vert, I don't think she's liking this," Nepgear stated.

"Ahhh! It hurts!" Peashy cried out as the two Verts pulled on her arms. "Quit pulling on me, Bert!"

"She called me Bert again," The Hyper Dimension Vert's reddened. "Every time she calls me that, it makes my heart skip a beat!"

"Everytime she calls me that, it makes me feel all giddy inside!" Vert stated.

"AHH! That's it!" Peashy tore away from the two Vert's grip. "I don't like this anymore! I hate you, Bert!"

"W-What?!" The two Verts stared at Peashy with shocked expressions.

"I'm gonna go hang with Neptuna!" Peashy shouted as she ran out of the door.

"Wait for me, Peashy!" Nepgear called after Peashy. "Bye, Vert!"

The Verts stood there with pale faces, expressionless faces...

* * *

 **Silver's POV**

While we were waiting for Nepgear and Peashy to get out of Vert's Basilicom, Hikan and I chatted with Tolise, who I hadn't talked to in years.

"It's weird, isn't it?" I wondered.

"What is?" Tolise asked.

"We were reunited for a month or so, then I left for about twelve years," I said. "It's like déjà vu."

Tolise chuckled. "It really is..."

"Oh yeah," Hikan turned to Tolise. "How has your relationship with Neptune been progressing?"

Curious, I turned to Tolise, noticing his face had a bit of a blush. "Why would I know? I haven't seen her in years. I haven't had time to catch up with her..."

Hikan and I formed wide grins. "Aww, c'mon! Don't turn into a male Tsundere! It's only been a few days for you!" Hikan said. "You haven't talked to her during these last few days?"

Tolise shook his head. "Nah. After that whole Rei incident, I felt too tired. Plus, I kinda forgot about it. I just ended up napping these last few days."

Hikan stared at Tolise with disappointment. "Man, c'mon."

"Gimme a break," Tolise whined. "Can't we do this later?"

I sighed. "Tolise is right. We still need to recover from that event several days ago."

Hikan shrugged. "I guess..."

"Sickle! Turtle! Hickle!" Peashy shouted towards the three of us as she, along with Nepgear, emerged from the Basilicom. "Let's go back to Neptuna!"

I shrugged. "I don't see why not. Let's go."

* * *

While Peashy, Hikan and Tolise all walked at a brisk pace ahead of us, Nepgear and I were lagging behind, holding hands.

"So I guess it's over for now, huh?" I asked.

Nepgear nodded. "Yeah, I guess it is."

"Hmmm..." I looked up towards the clouds for a second.

"What is it?" Nepgear asked as she stared at me with concern.

I shook my head. "It's nothing to worry about. I was just thinking..."

"Thinking about what?" Nepgear asked, a hint of curiosity ringing in her voice.

I shrugged. "The future, mainly."

"O-Oh..." Nepgear bowed her head. "S-Sorry..."

I looked back over at her. "Why are you saying sorry? I was referring to our future, together."

"H-Huh?!" Nepgear looked back up at me as a bit of color entered her cheeks. "W-What do you mean?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I was just thinking about what Hikan had been telling me about. Y'know, about marriage?"

"M-M-Marriage?!" Nepgear's face instantly turned beet red and she turned away from me. "S-Silver, that's too far away! Don't talk about something that embarrassing!"

I let out chuckle. "I'm being serious. Don't be so Tsundere about it..."

"…" Nepgear sighed. "I-I guess...I am considering it..."

I smiled. "That's the spirit! We don't have to get married yet, of course. Heck, I don't even want to keep thinking about it. Just remember that the option is there."

Nepgear nodded, and the two of us picked our pace and caught up with the others. "Hey, there they are!" Hikan pointed ahead, towards a large avalanche of stuffed animals.

"Wow! So many stuffed animals!" Peashy cried as she ran towards the stuffed animal avalanche and jumped on top of it.

"Good timing, you guys!" Neptune shouted as she struggled to escape from the cuddly avalanche. "Hurry and get me outta here!"

Plutia, who was also trapped in the stuffed animal avalanche turned to us. "I'm sooo glad I met you all...! Let's be together forever...!"

"T-That's great and all, Plutie," Neptune said. "But can we do this after I get out of this cuddly coffin?"

Plutia giggled, ignoring Neptune's pleads. "Ehehehe... I'm soo glad I met you all...!"

And, as Neptune struggled to break free from the stuffed animal pile, I stared at the stuffed animals, each of them housing a memory we had here, with our friends...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **That wraps up this chapter and the third arc! I hope you all enjoyed reading the third arc, even though I did leave some things out. I tried my best to keep the chapters nice and short while following the story and providing enjoyable content to read. Originally, when I started writing this arc, I didn't know how to do it, so I did plagiarize when I started writing the third arc. Eventually, I did figure it out with some of your help! Thank you all to those that kept reading this, you know who you are! Now that this arc is over, the next week will be filler chapters to relax and to help build Arc Five's story. After that, we'll move onto Arc Four: The Megadimension Arc! Anyways, thank you all for reading up to this point, it really means a lot to me, and I hope to see you all in the next chapters and beyond!**

 **Question 1: Did you enjoy this arc? What did you think? If you could provide some feedback, even negative, it would help a lot!**

 **Question 2: Would you like for me to remove the sound effects from the fight scenes? Some told me that they aren't necessary and are just annoying. If I get several reviews telling me to, I'll get rid of them.**


	126. Chapter 126

Chapter 126

"…" I lay on my bed, unable to sleep and stared up at the ceiling. It felt good to be back in my own bed, but I was still worried. Weeks had passed since we had saved the world and the CPUs of the Ultradimension would occasionally come to visit. Though they kept my mind off my worries, they were still there. The thing that worried me was what was going to happen two months from now. What would happen would be something I wouldn't enjoy.

I let out a sigh and decided to stop thinking about it. "They always did say to enjoy the moment."

*Knock! Knock!*

"Hm?" I turned my head towards the door. It was around midnight, so it was weird to find that somebody wanted to come into my room during the middle of the night. I knew it couldn't be Nepgear because she went to sleep a few hours before I did and usually stayed in her room. Although, I couldn't sleep, so maybe the person at the door could help me out with that. Talking did usually speed up my sleeping process. "It's open."

"Hiiii, Silvy...!" Plutia waved and smiled at me as she creaked my door open, the moonlight shining on part of her.

I sat up on my bed. "P-Plutia? What are you doing here?"

"Ehehehe..." Plutia let out a giggle and waddled over to my bed. "I wanted to play with you...!"

I stared at Plutia with a confused look. "Plutia, you do realize it's around midnight, right?"

She put a finger to her chin and stared at me with a puzzled expression. "It is...?"

I sighed. "Plutia, when did you go to sleep?"

Plutia smiled brightly at my question. "This morning...!"

"When did you wake up?" I asked.

"About an hour agoooo...!" Plutia answered happily.

"Wait, have you eaten anything at all today?" I continued questioning her.

Plutia shook her head. "I dreamed about eating loooots of cake...!"

I shook my head. "Well of course you did. You haven't eaten anything all day."

Plutia scratched at the back of her head. "Sooorry..."

I shook my head and hopped off my bed. "Don't be. Come on. Let's go get some food into you."

"U-Ummmm..." I turned back to Plutia to see her staring at me with her blushing face.

I stared back at her. "What?"

"You're not wearing any clothes..." Plutia murmured.

"Hm?" I looked down at my body to see that I wasn't wearing anything besides a pair of boxers. "Oh yeah. Sorry, I'm not used to people showing up at midnight."

Plutia turned around and covered her eyes. "I won't looook..."

I nodded before quickly dressing myself. "By the way, isn't your Histoire worried about you?"

"Noope...!" Plutia answered back. "She's sleeeeping...!"

I chuckled. "Sure, whatever."

As I slipped my boots on, I went over and tapped Plutia's shoulder, causing her to turn back to me. "You ready to head out?" I asked.

"Yuuup...!" Plutia nodded, and we began to walk out of the Basilicom...

* * *

"...Zzzz...mmgh..."

The store owner turned to me. "Is that girl ever going to wake up?"

I sighed. "Hopefully..."

After we had walked out of the Basilicom, Plutia had spotted a nearby mattress store and had decided that we should visit there. But, upon entering the store, Plutia instantly ran for the comfiest-looking bed and began to nap on it. This had caught the store owner's attention.

"Sir, I understand if your girlfriend is tired but could you please get her off of that bed?" The store owner asked.

"Sure," I quickly rolled Plutia onto my back and began to walk out of the store. "By the way, she's not my girlfriend. She's just a friend."

I heard the store owner chortle as the store door closed behind us. I went over to a nearby bench and sat Plutia down onto it before I began shaking her shoulder. "Hey, Plutia..."

"Mmgh...food..." Plutia murmured the words, ignoring me.

I stared at her with a disappointed expression. "Honestly, you've been sleeping all day."

"Five mooore minutes..." Plutia continued murmuring.

"Oh well," Feeling that there was no other option to wake her up, I leaned close to her and gently pressed my lips against her cheek.

As I pulled back, Plutia's eyes snapped open, her face reddening. "H-Huh..?! What was thaaat...?"

I shrugged. "I don't know," I lied. "But how about we go eat now?"

"Okaaay...!" Plutia nodded and rose from the bench. "I want lots and lots and loooots of cake...!"

I shrugged. "I'll buy you however much my wallet can get..."

* * *

After walking for a bit, Plutia and I had ended up in a dine-in bakery. I had ordered a cup of green tea boba tea—known as bubble tea—and half a dozen white chocolate chip cookies. While I enjoyed my food, Plutia's spread consisted of several wedding-sized cakes.

"Plutia, shouldn't you get a drink?" I asked while I sipped away at my tea.

"I want grape juice...!" Plutia said.

I nodded and waved for a waitress to come over while I chewed on several tapioca pearls.

"What can I assist you two in?" The young waitress asked politely.

I nodded to Plutia. "Could you get her some grape juice?"

"Certainly. Would you like a juice box?" She asked.

"Juice box," I answered.

The waitress nodded and shuffled away. A minute later, she returned with a juice box and placed it in front of Plutia. "Is there anything else I can get for you two?"

I shook my head. "We're fine. Thank you."

The waitress nodded and left us to eat. I turned my attention back to Plutia, who was trying to poke the straw into the juice box's hole. "This is tooo hard..."

"Here," I walked to Plutia's side and took her hands. I then guided her hands to allow the straw to slip through the hole. "There you go."

"Thanks Silvy...!" Plutia thanked.

I nodded and sat back at my seat, while Plutia happily drank her juice and ate her cake. "Man, you really are like a little kid, Plutia..."

"I am noot..." Plutia denied as she looked up at me, a bit of icing was on her cheek.

"Here, just hold still," I said before taking a napkin and wiping the icing from Plutia's cheek. As I did so, Plutia squirmed around. "Hold still. You don't want to get more icing onto you face, now do you?"

After questioning her, Plutia stopped squirming, and I finished wiping the icing from her cheek. "There you go. All better now."

"Thanks Silvy..." Plutia thanked once again before taking a sip from her juice box.

"Don't worry about it," I said. "Let's just finish our food so that I can take you home before anyone notices."

"Okaaay...!" Plutia nodded and returned to eating away at her cakes.

* * *

"Honestly, I can't believe you did that," I muttered as Plutia rested on my back. "I don't understand how you could eat three wedding-sized cakes in an hour."

After Plutia had scarfed down her three cakes, I had made sure to leave a tip for the waitress, paid our bill, and the two of us began to walk back to Plutia's Basilicom. Along the way, Plutia had gotten sleepy, so I had to carry her on my back.

"They were sooo tasty..." Plutia muttered, half-awake. "But they made me sooo sleepy..."

"Well, it doesn't matter, cause we're back to your Basilicom," I announced as we reached the Basilicom doors.

I set Plutia back down, and she stood back up, rubbing at her eyes. "Bye Silvy..." Plutia waved at me.

I nodded. "It was good getting to spend time with you."

Plutia giggled and entered her Basilicom, leaving me in the moonlight. "I guess I should head back now..."

* * *

 **Tolise's POV**

It was around eleven in the morning, and Silver was still asleep. Nepgear was worrying about him as we all ate our breakfast.

"I hope he's okay..." Nepgear murmured.

Hikan shrugged. "It's fine. He's probably just sleeping in."

"Still, it's not like him," IF pointed out. "He's usually up pretty early."

"Maybe he got sick..." Compa thought.

"I'm not quite sure what he's doing..." Histoire murmured. "Maybe he's still trying to recover from Rei Ryghts' attack?"

I shook my head. "Knowing him, he probably snuck out last night."

"How would you know?" Hikan asked curiously.

"Simple," I answered. "After spending years with him, I figured out that he usually only sleeps in whenever he's had a hard fight recently, or if he snuck out."

"Wow, you're like Sherlock Holmes!" Neptune said.

I shrugged as I took a bite out of my sausage. "It's common knowledge, nothing special."

"Morning..." Silver greeted us as he walked to the table.

"Gee, you look like you haven't slept in years," IF said. "What were you doing last night?"

Silver let out a yawn as he took a seat beside Nepgear. "I went out and ate with Plutia..."

"WHAT!?" Neptune leaned over the table and grabbed Silver by his collar, snapping him awake. "You better not have done anything weird with Plutie! Because it's already bad enough that you're dating my kid sister, but if you do anything to Plutie, I'll make sure you see the light!"

Silver blinked. "U-Um...morning to you too, Neptune..."

We all stared at the two of them. "Hey, Neptune?" Hikan spoke up.

"What?" Neptune's head turned to Hikan.

"Weren't you going to head out today?" Hikan wondered. "You said you were going to go with Tolise and—mmgh!"

Before Hikan could finish his sentence, Neptune took my last sausage and shoved it into Hikan's mouth, causing him to choke. "Hikan, you got something in your mouth." Neptune said. "You know what they say! Finish eating before you start talking, or you might choke!"

"A-Ack!" Hikan was on the floor, trying to cough out the sausage.

"Geez, Neptune," Silver pulled himself away from Neptune's grip and smacked the sausage out of Hikan's esophagus. "Can we quit fooling around and finish eating?"

"As long as you promise you didn't do anything to hurt Plutie or my little Nep!" Neptune said.

Silver sighed and nodded. "I promise..."

Neptune's mood perked at Silver's words. "Okay!"

Hikan rose from the floor as he regained his breath. "Neptune, I was just saying you should hurry so that you could go do that thing you wanted to do..."

Neptune puffed her cheeks and glared at Hikan. "Well it was supposed to be a surprise!"

"Whatever," Silver sat back down at his seat and began eating his breakfast. "I'm going to spend the day with Nepgear and Uni today, so I'm going to hurry and finish eating."

Hikan nodded. "Yeah, I'm going to go see Blanc. I haven't been able to spend time with her or her sisters for a while."

I also nodded and turned to Neptune. "Yeah, let's hurry up and finish eating. You did say you were going to take me somewhere..."

"Mmgh... Fine!" Neptune plopped back down onto her chair and returned to eating as Hikan also did.

I turned to Silver. "How did you live with this for so long?"

He shrugged. "You get used to it. Plus, it keeps things interesting..."

I sighed. "I guess so."

"I bet you I'll finish before you!" Neptune challenged me "Whoever loses has to pay for the whole day!"

"Hey, I don't even know what we're doing!" I stated before I began scarfing down my breakfast.

Whatever Neptune wanted to do, it had to involve money. As I scarfed down my food, I hoped that whatever we did would be something fun...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Now we can have some filler! Since Arc Three is over, this week will be dedicated to filler chapters. I'll throw in some romance chapters along with a chapter relating to Arc Five's story. Also, sound effects are no longer in the story. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Have you ever snuck out during the middle of the night? If so, why?**


	127. Chapter 127

Chapter 127

I sighed as Neptune pulled me down the busy Planeptune streets. "Hey, Neptune. Are you sure you should be walking that fast? It's not good to push yourself after you eat. You might puke it back up..."

Neptune, who had been walking at a rather brisk pace, stopped and turned back to me. She flashed me a bright smile. "Don't you worry about me, you knowledgeable Turtle!" Neptune reassured me. "I just want to take you to this place!"

I sighed. "I hope it's worth stuffing all that food into your mouth..."

After Neptune had hurriedly stuffed all of her food into her mouth, she had ended up winning the challenge, meaning I was paying for anything that required money for the day. However, I didn't mind.

"Oh, look! It's right there!" Neptune tugged on my hand and pulled me closer to her. She pointed up at a building.

I stared at the building with a worried expression. "N-Neptune, is this an arcade...?"

"Yuppers!" Neptune nodded brightly and turned to me. "I'm kinda glad you decided to pay, cause I wasted all my money on buying pudding yesterday..."

I sighed. "Of course you did..."

"Come on! You promised you'd pay!" Neptune whined.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'll pay. But if I win whatever we play, I get to take one of your pudding cups!"

Neptune stared back at me with a horrified expression. "That's sexual harassment!"

I grinned and shook my head. "No, it's not. It's just another bet! Because I know I'll beat you at every game we play!"

"No! I'm gonna win and make you buy me pudding!" Neptune claimed as she dashed into the arcade.

"Hey! Wait up!" I called after her before starting to run to catch up to her.

Upon entering the arcade, I was greeted by bright lights, rows of colorful machines lined up side by side, coins scattered on the floor and children running around the arcade. It truly was a place meant for someone as childish as Neptune.

"Then again, I've always wanted to come to one of these..." I muttered. I had never been to an arcade before. The reason for not going was unknown to me. But now that I was in one, it urged me to want to come back more. However, I didn't see Neptune anywhere nearby.

Before I let my thoughts wander off to space, I snapped back to my head and began scanning around for Neptune. After spotting her, I dashed over to her; she was playing a crane game.

"Come on..." Neptune stared intently at the crane's claw as it came up with a Dogoo plush.

As the Dogoo plush slipped from the claw's grasps, I noticed Neptune had a few coins by her side, ready to be inserted into the machine.

"Neptune, why don't you let me try?" I suggested.

Neptune shook her head but continued to stare intently at the crane claw. "I'm gonna win this thing!" Neptune said as she reached for another coin in her stack. However, instead of feeling the coin, she felt air instead. Neptune then looked over to see that her coin pile had all been used up and no prizes had been won. She then turned to me and jabbed her finger towards my nose. "Make sure nobody takes this crane!"

"O-Okay..." I nodded as I watched Neptune dash off to go get more coins.

After Neptune had disappeared from my sight, I turned back to the crane machine and glanced into it, inspecting the contents it harbored. Inside were many Dogoos plushies and a few coupons for free pudding cups.

"Oh well," I produced a coin from my pocket and inserted it into the crane machine. The crane machine lit up as my coin entered it, allowing me control of the crane claw. "I guess I'll give it a shot..."

I had never used a crane machine before due to my lack of arcade visits, and the crane machines that I did find were usually broken. However, I knew the basic idea of the crane machine. Basically, it was to grab the prize and get it into the hole so that you could get a prize. Though, many would fail to grab one, even Neptune.

As I focused on the crane, I guided the claw to the prize that seemed the easiest to grab, which was a Dogoo plush. While I stared between the claw and the plush, I remembered something Hikan had once told me. He had said that the angle or how tightly packed the prize was didn't matter. He explained that the claw was set to grab at a certain force, but every _x_ number of times, the claw's grip would tighten, allowing the prize to actually be won.

I sighed and clicked the button that dropped the claw. The claw squeezed the round Dogoo plush and grabbed it with a tight force. I let out a chuckle. "Well, looks like I got lucky today..."

I watched as the claw guided the Dogoo plush to the crane hole. When the claw reached the hole, it dropped the plush, meaning I had won.

"Wow, that was surprising..." I muttered as I grabbed the Dogoo plush. "Hm?"

After I pulled the plush out from the hole, I felt something thin at the Dogoo's back. I turned it around and revealed the thin item to be a coupon for free pudding. Although I was showing a blank face on the outside, I was laughing on the inside. "I wish I always had this luck..."

"Turtle, move!" Neptune shoved me out of her way while I was staring at my prizes. Neptune placed her new stack of coins to her side and began trying to win a prize. I stared at her coin pile; there were fourteen coins, counting the one she had just used. If she had used the same amount last time, that meant that the fourteenth coin was the number of coins that needed to be used up before the claw would tighten it's grip. The fifteenth coin was the one that tightened the claw's grip. Neptune let out a groan as the claw dropped her prize. "Dangit!"

"Hey, Neptune," I snapped at her as she continued inserting the coins into the machine, wasting each one. "Did you also get fourteen coins last time?"

Neptune nodded as her fourteenth coin was wasted from the prize falling once again. "Yeah, why?"

I smiled and set my prizes down beside her feet. I then produced another coin and inserted it into the crane machine, relighting it. "How about I help you out?" I suggested as I stepped behind Neptune and slipped my hands over her small hands.

Her hands were soft, smooth and warm. My body was pressed against her's, so I could feel her body's warmth radiating from her.

"U-Um..." Neptune looked back at me; her face was red. "T-Tolise... W-What are you doing?"

I smiled and carefully guided her hands towards the joystick that controlled the crane claw. "I'm helping you get a prize," I nodded towards my two prizes that sat by her feet. "I managed to get two prizes. Trust me."

Neptune gave a shy nod. "O-Okay..."

Truth be told, helping her wasn't necessary at all. It was just an excuse to be closer to Neptune. I asked in a hushed tone, "Which one do you want?"

"The Dogoo plush..." Neptune whispered back.

I nodded and guided her hands to move the claw; the claw moved to a lone Dogoo plush. I then carefully guided her hands to hit the 'grab' button. The claw shot down towards the plush and tightly squeezed it. Then the claw guided it back to the prize hole and dropped it.

As Neptune pulled it out, she turned back to me and smiled her brightest smile. "We did it, Tolise!"

Before I could return her smile, Neptune tackled me to the ground and hugged me, rubbing her cheek against my chest. "Thanks Turtle!"

I smiled and patted her head as she embraced me tightly.

* * *

"Ehehehe..." Neptune let out a giggle as the two of us stared down at Planeptune; Neptune was happily eating her putting while she held her Dogoo plush in her other hand.

After I had helped Neptune win her plush, we had played a few more games and, after we left the arcade, I had taken her out to get pudding. While we were eating our pudding, the two of us had climbed to the top of the Basilicom's tower and reached the observatory, which overlooked Planeptune.

I smiled as I sat beside Neptune on a bench and stared at the breathtaking view of Planeptune. "So, did you enjoy your day?"

Neptune nodded while her cheeks became a bit flushed. "Mhm... Thanks for helping me win that Dogoo..."

I nodded. "There's no need to thank me for that, really."

Neptune shook her head and looked up at me. "Y'know, you really are a kind person. You're not a pervert like Silver or Hikan either."

At that remark, I blinked and wondered what those two had done to these girls. "Well, I'm glad I'm not a pervert," I responded. "But it's really fun getting to spend time with you."

A bit more color entered Neptune's face before she scooted closer towards me; I could now feel her body heat radiating from her. While I thought about it, I felt a bit of blood rush to my face, heating it up.

Neptune set her pudding and Dogoo plush to her side before turning back to me, staring at me with upturned eyes. This was a look she had never given me before. It was different.

"Tolise, I'm really glad you came with me today," Neptune said in a hushed tone. "It was really nice of you..."

I nodded but remained speechless as Neptune leaned even closer, causing me to have to lean back. If this was going where I thought it was, then I wouldn't mind it, but part of me was worried.

"When you wrapped your arms around me and pressed your body close to mine, it...actually felt nice..." Neptune murmured quietly as I was forced to lay down on the bench, allowing Neptune to sit on me. Her face was completely flushed at this point. She then leaned close to me, leaving our noses only inches away from touching. This time, I could feel her hot breaths as her body pressed against mine. "How about we...make that moment last...?"

I gulped. This wasn't like Neptune at all, and I was at a loss for words.

"It's okay..." Neptune whispered softly. "I don't mind... As long as it's you..."

Before I knew what was going on, my arms began to move on their own and wrapped around Neptune's head, pulling her closer; our lips were now centimeters apart. While I tried to remain composed physically, mentally, I was freaking out.

"Don't worry... This is what I want..." Neptune whispered as her lips scooted even closer to mine.

"N-Neptune..." I could only stare back at her lustful eyes.

"Just kidding!" Neptune suddenly pulled herself back and smiled brightly, as if none of that had just happened.

I stared up at Neptune with a confused look. "U-Um..."

Neptune smiled at me and pulled me back up to sitting upright on the bench. "Man, your face is so red, Turtle! It's so cute!"

I turned away from her. "Whatever..."

"Hey, what's wrong?" Neptune tugged on my jacket. "I'm sorry if I scared you..."

I sighed as the blood disappeared from my face. "It's fine..."

I stood up and began to walk out towards the elevator doors. "I'm going to go take a shower..."

"Oh, wait, Tolise!" Neptune called out, halting me in my tracks.

Before I could ask her what she wanted, I felt a soft sensation press against my cheek. I turned to see Neptune, kissing my cheek. She pulled away, a blush in her face. "Thanks for taking me out today!"

I watched her run off with her pudding and plush while I stood there, trying to comprehend what she had just done. Before I knew it, I was wearing a wide grin on my face. "You're welcome, Neptune."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here is the chapter's end! For all of you who like Neptune romance and(or) ship these two, here you go! I devoted this whole chapter to Neptune and Tolise. The next chapter will mainly focus on Blanc and Hikan. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **If a girl suddenly wanted to have sex with you, would you agree to it? Or, would you rather wait until you're mentally and physically prepared?**


	128. Chapter 128

Chapter 128

 **Hikan's POV**

Arriving in Lowee, I was greeted by snow falling onto my head. I smiled as I watched the snow fall. After all those years spent in the Ultradimension, it felt so good being back in the snow-themed Lowee.

"Although it's still as cold as ever, I'm glad I'm here again," I muttered as I stared up towards the towering Lowee castle, which also acted as it's Basilicom. "It's been too long since I've seen this place..."

I began my walk towards the castle. While I was walking, I felt a chilling strike hit the back of my head.

"W-We're sorry!"

"Don't say sorry! It's that dummy's fault for standing there!"

Brushing the snow off of my hair, I turned around to the direction of where the snowball had come from. Standing behind me were Rom and Ram. "Oh, hey, you two."

"H-Huh?" Rom turned her attention up to me, Upon seeing my face, she smiled. "I-It's Mr. Hikan..."

"Huh? It is?" Ram also looked up to me. "Crap, it actually is! I-I'm sorry!"

I let out a chuckle as the two of them bowed at me. "Don't worry about it. I was just on my way to see you two and your sister."

"Blanc said that we couldn't come into her room..." Rom murmured. "So we came outside to play..."

I nodded. "I see..." I shrugged. "Well, that's Blanc in a nutshell. She's always writing and being angry..."

"Look! We drew a picture of Blanc!" Rom took out a sheet of paper and brought it to my face, allowing me to see the drawing.

I formed a wide grin as I stared at the drawing. "Yeah, that sure does look like Blanc..."

The girls' drawing of Blanc was drawn with red and black crayons. It was a drawing of Blanc with her angry face. It showed her sharp teeth and glowing red left eye. "Girls, this is truly a work of art..."

As I handed the drawing back to them, they smiled. "See? Hikan gets it! That's how Blanc always is!"

I nodded. "Well, I'm gonna head off to see your sister. You two want to come with me?"

"C-Can we...?" Rom asked.

"Please!" Ram begged. "She's being a jerk and not letting us play in her room!"

"Wait, did you two get kicked out?" I asked.

They both nodded.

I smiled. "Well, that's probably the reason you two got kicked out," I suggested. "You two can come with me, but you better not disturb Blanc again. She might get angry again, got it?"

Rom and Ram nodded quietly.

I returned their nod. "Good. Well, let's go..."

* * *

"Yo, Blanc..." After arriving in Lowee's Basilicom, Rom and Ram had ran off to play in the Basilicom, while I had spent about fifteen minutes scouring the building for Blanc. Eventually, I found her sitting on her bed in her room; she was reading a book quietly. "How long have you been here?"

"Hm?" Blanc unglued her eyes from her book and glanced up at me; she gave a small smile. "Oh, hello, Hikan. How are you?"

I shrugged and sat beside her on her bed. "I've been okay. I just came to see you."

Blanc set her book down and turned to me. She still wore her quiet smile. "It's good to see..."

I nodded. "Yeah, but do you want to head out and go somewhere?"

Blanc shrugged and pulled on her coat. "As long as it's quiet..."

I formed a wide grin. "Don't worry. I know where to go."

"H-Hey...!"

Before Blanc could say anything, I grabbed her by her wrist and pulled her along with me.

* * *

"So, what do you think?" I looked over at Blanc for approval.

"…" She stared at the bookstore we stood in front of with a blank expression. But, after a minute, Blanc smiled. "It's nice..."

Without waiting for me, Blanc entered the bookstore, leaving me out in the cold Lowee streets. I shook my head. "That girl..."

Walking in after her, the noisy Lowee's sounds instantly faded away upon entering the bookstore. The cold, glass door closed behind me and a bell jingled, alerting others of my arrival.

The bookstore was lined row by row with tall oak shelves containing stacks of books. There was also a certain aura in the store that seemed to fit how quiet it was. People all around were quietly reading their books, deciding on whether or not they wanted to buy them. There were a few corners reserved for reading, each containing leather armchairs, a cappuccino machine and a fireplace, allowing for a comfortable reading experience.

"I hope they're not worried about fire hazards..." I muttered as I began to search the store for Blanc.

"Ah, there you are," I looked to see that she was already quietly reading a book to herself. I tried to peek at the book's cover. "What're you reading?"

"Here," Blanc took another copy and handed it to me. "This is what I'm trying to decide whether or not to buy..."

"Hm?" I took the book from her and stared at the title. " _To Kill a Mockingbird..._ "

Blanc glanced up at me. "Do you know what it's about?"

I shrugged. "It mainly deals with the idea of being prejudice, from what I remember of it," I started. "It's a controversial book. I thought it was a pretty good book, but when I showed it to Silver, he said it was too boring..."

"I see..." Blanc looked back down at the book. "Do you think I'd like it?"

I puffed out my cheeks. "A lot of people like it. I'm not sure if you would, but I'd say you should give it a try."

Blanc nodded. "Maybe..."

I shrugged. "It's up to you..."

"Wait, don't you want to get a book?" Blanc asked, turning her head back up to me.

I shrugged and began to stare around the bookstore. "Sure, but I don't know what to get..."

"Hmmm..." Blanc pursed her lips as she began to think. "Oh, I might have one..."

I watched as Blanc went over to another row of books and came back, holding a book in her hand. While I stared at her, she placed the book into my hands. "Here, what about this one?"

"What is it?" I stared at the book cover. " _The Outsiders_..."

Blanc nodded. "I read it once. It was a pretty interesting book, in my opinion."

I shrugged. "Well, if you suggest it, then it can't be that bad of a book."

Blanc then tugged on my sleeve and nodded towards one of the reading corners. "Then why don't we go read our books together?"

I shrugged. "Sure, why not? Let's just pay for our books first."

Blanc nodded again and we headed towards the counter, where a young lady stood patiently. "Hello, how can I help you two?"

Blanc and I set our books onto the counter. "We'd like to buy these two books," I requested.

"I understand," the lady nodded and scanned our books before placing both of them into a white, plastic bag. "That will be fifteen hundred Credits, please."

"Alright," I produced the desired amount of Credits from my wallet and handed it to her. "There you go."

The lady nodded as she carefully placed the money into the cash register. "Thank you! You two have a good day!"

We nodded and went off to one of the corners to read. We settled into our armchairs, opened our books and began reading...

* * *

Blanc let out a sigh before setting her book down on the table to her left. We had been reading for roughly around two or three hours, and it was now the middle of the evening. "I'm getting kind of hungry.." Blanc murmured as she pointed towards her belly, which rumbled in response. "How about we go get something to eat?"

I set my book down and nodded. "Yeah, that sounds nice."

The two of us rose from our seats, gathered our belongings and headed out of the bookstore, bidding the cashier farewell. As the two of us exited the bookstore and were greeted by the chilling breeze of Lowee. I scanned the area around us for places to eat. "Let's see..."

The street we were on was filled with many clothing stores and candy stores. However, knowing Blanc, she probably wanted to eat somewhere nice and quiet, away from the noise.

"Ah, there," I nodded my head towards a café at the end of the street. "How about we get some grub over there?"

Blanc nodded and the two of us walked, hand in hand, towards the café. We entered the café and were greeted by the ringing of bells. I examined the café and let the sight of it sink in.

It was floored with pine wood flooring, the walls, which were filled with paintings, were painted a olive green color and there were chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Also, there was a jazz band playing some swing songs off in a corner.

While the two of us inspected the café, a young man approached us, wearing a smile on his face. "Good evening. What could I do for the two of you?"

I nodded and held up two fingers. "Table for two, please."

"Certainly," The waiter nodded before turning on his heel. "Follow me. I'll lead you two to your table."

Blanc and I followed him to a table that sat right next to a window, allowing us a view of the snowing Lowee. "Are there any drinks I could get you two?" The waiter asked politely.

I nodded. "Do you guys have White Chocolate Mochas here?"

The waiter nodded, pulled out a pen and notepad and quickly scrawled down the drink. "Certainly."

"And could I get a grilled turkey sandwich?" I added.

The waiter nodded once again, scrawling more onto his notepad. He then turned to Blanc as she set our plastic book bag down beside her. "And what could I get you, miss?"

"I would like an extra large coffee with extra sugar and cream, with a layer of whipped cream and pie crust," Blanc spouted out. "Also, I'd like a sandwich, doesn't matter what kind."

The waiter quickly scrawled down Blanc's order onto his notepad, nodded and looked back at the two of us. "Alright! It'll all be out soon!"

We nodded and watched the waiter leave. "He was nice..." I murmured.

Blanc nodded. "Yeah."

"So how have you been today?" I asked Blanc, turning back to her.

Blanc shrugged. "It's been nice with you around. Have you seen Rom and Ram today?"

I nodded. "Yeah, they came with me when I was coming over to see you."

Blanc stared back at me as her emotionless expression turned into a surprised one. "Really? I didn't hear them..."

I formed a grin. "Yeah, well I told them they had to be quiet if they wanted to come with me."

"I see..." Blanc formed a small smile. "Thank you, Hikan."

I shrugged. "Don't mention it."

"There you two are..." the waiter set a tray down and placed our drinks along with our dishes carefully in front of us. "Is there anything else I could get you two?"

I shook my head. "We're fine. Thank you."

The waiter nodded and left us to eat. I then turned my attention back to Blanc, who was already munching on her sandwich. "Hey, after this, do you mind if I spend the night at your place?"

Blanc quietly swallowed her food before answering. "I don't mind..."

"Thanks," I returned her answer with a smile and began eating away at my sandwich.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And here is the end of yet another chapter! The next chapter will be the last filler chapter before we move onto Arc Four, which is about Megadimension Neptunia. This time, I'll see if I can write the arc in a shorter amount of chapters to keep it at a reasonable amount of chapters. But we won't discuss that yet! Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Have you ever been to a bookstore and(or) a café?**


	129. Chapter 129

Chapter 129

 **Silver's POV**

After Nepgear and I had finished our breakfast, we had walked over to Lastation's Basilicom to go see Uni.

"Hey, you in here?" I called out as Nepgear and I reached the living room floor.

"Uni?" Nepgear also called out to her.

"Oh. Hey, you two!" Upon seeing us, Uni smiled and waved at us. "Why are you two here?"

"We came to play with you!" Nepgear said.

At Nepgear's words, Uni grew a blush. "Y-You came all the way...to see me?" Uni muttered.

"Mhm!" Nepgear nodded joyfully.

"T-That's sweet..." Uni murmured quietly. "B-B-But it's not like I appreciate it or anything!"

Nepgear and I let out dry laughs as we stared at Uni. "You're welcome, Uni."

"S-So, what do you guys want to do?" Uni asked curiously.

I shrugged. "What were you doing?"

Uni materialized a gun and waved it for us to see. "I was going to head down to the gun range to get some practice. You two want to come?"

I shrugged. "Why not?" I looked over at Nepgear. "Are you fine with that?"

Nepgear nodded. "I'm okay with that. It could be fun!"

Hearing our approval, Uni formed a wide smile. "Thanks! Now, let's go!"

* * *

 **Final Score**

 **Uni: 125**

 **Silver:110**

 **Nepgear:110**

I whistled lowly while I stared at the final results of the scoreboard. "Wow..."

"Wow, Uni! You're so good at this!" Nepgear complimented as she compared her score to Uni's. "I'll never get that high of a score..."

"Geez, you two," Uni's eyes slowly drifted to the ground as her face grew flustered. "I-It's not that high of a score."

After we had arrived at the gun range, Uni had decided to play a game. The game involved using a single gun and blasting down as many targets as possible within sixty seconds. Nepgear had chosen a laser pistol, while Uni and I had both chosen fourth generation Glock 26s. Even though Nepgear and I had lost to Uni, we still had fun.

"Still, you did really well," I admitted.

"It's nothing special... Not compared to Noire at least..." Uni murmured.

"Uni, you don't always have to compare yourself to Noire," I advised. "That can only get you so far. You should just be the best you that you can be."

"Yeah, but Noire won't allow me to help her unless I'm as good as she is..." Uni responded. "And that day will never come..."

"Hey," I placed my hands onto her shoulders, making eye contact with her. "Listen, just because Noire says you're not as good as her, or because you can't beat her at something, doesn't mean you can't be you. To me, you're the best you I've known."

Tears began to form at the corner of Uni's eyes. "B-But—"

I shook my head. "You know why you beat us both? It's because you tried your best to become better. You wanted to become better, so you went out and did it. If you keep comparing yourself to Noire, you'll start sulking in your own misery and doubt. Instead, you'll be losing all the skills you gained instead of becoming stronger."

"Y-Yeah..." A tear slowly rolled down Uni's cheek. "B-But how can I better myself?"

I smiled. "Easy. I've already said it like three times. You just have to be the best you that you can be. Don't compare yourself to Noire. Instead, compare yourself to yourself, that way you can see how much you've progressed. Just do your best. If you ever need any help, we can help you!"

By this point, tears were streaming down Uni's face. "T-Thanks..."

I watched as Nepgear came up to Uni and embraced her. "It'll be alright, Uni. We're here for you..."

Uni continued to sob. "T-Thank you both..."

* * *

After Nepgear had been called by Neptune to come home to help her do something, I was left alone with Uni. Since Uni didn't know where to go or what to do with me, I decided to take her out for a walk. Luckily, there was a part of Lastation that wasn't covered by factories and buildings. Somehow, I had led the two of us to a large lake with a bridge—floating over the lake—that led up to a wooden gazebo.

"It's so nice...and peaceful over here..." Uni murmured as she leaned against the railing. The wind blew, causing Uni's hair to blow to the left.

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah..." I sucked in fresh breath of clean air. "It really is nice here..."

"H-Hey..." Uni turned to me and tugged on my sleeve as I began leaning against the railing. "C-Can I ask you something?"

"Hm? Sure," I stared at Uni with wonder. "What do you want to know?"

"W-Well..." Uni averted her gaze down towards the shimmering lake. "U-Um..."

I stared at her with a patient expression. "Take your time. I can wait if you need it."

"N-No, i-it's fine..." Uni murmured quietly. "I-It's just that...u-um..."

Her face slowly began reddening, and she was squirming around. I only stared at her. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Y-Yeah..." Uni said. "I-I...just..."

"Hey," I took ahold of Uni's hand and squeezed it, startling her. "It's alright..."

Uni snapped from her trance and smiled at me. "Thank you..."

I nodded. "Now, are you ready to talk yet?"

Uni gave a shy nod. "Y-Yeah..."

We took a seat on one of the wooden benches, and I stared into her eyes. "I won't laugh or anything. I'll listen."

"Okay..." Uni let out a sigh before turning back to face me. "Silver, why do you care so much about me?"

"Hm? What do you mean why?" I asked.

"Well, whenever I'm feeling down, you're always there to help me, like how you help Nepgear," Uni started. "You've spent time with my sister before, so why do you believe so much in me?"

I shrugged. "Why wouldn't I? I know that you're capable of being great, possibly great enough to surpass Noire. But you can't accomplish anything if you sit there and sulk all day, you know?"

Uni quietly nodded, and I continued my explanation. "The reason why I believe in you is because I know that you can do it. Everyone always needs someone to be there for them, and I believe in you. I care about all of you; you all made me who I am today..."

A few tears began rolling down Uni's cheeks as I finished speaking. "S-Silver..."

"H-Hey..." I stumbled back a bit as Uni threw her arms around me. "W-What's wrong, Uni?"

Uni shook her head as she buried her head into my chest. "Nothing... I'm just happy that you care so much about us..."

I nodded. "I'm just glad you're feeling better..."

"Mhm..." Uni tightened her grip on me and pulled closer.

For the rest of the time we stood at the gazebo, we remained in a warm hug...

* * *

"Haaa..." It was around six o' clock by the time I got home. I had taken a shower and was lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling. "At least Uni's feeling better..."

"Hm?" While I stared up at the ceiling without a thought in the world, my right hand suddenly twitched. "That's strange—"

Before I knew what was going on, I suddenly passed out and the dark void surrounded me.

 _I sighed. "Goddamnit..."_

 _"Welcome back, friend..." The Darkness greeted me. It's black human silhouette stared back at me. "Aren't you so happy to be back here with me, your best friend?"_

 _I sighed. "You know the answer to that question better than anyone else."_

 _"And you should know that it was a rhetorical question," the Darkness answered._

 _I shook my head. "You know why I hate you so much..."_

 _It sighed. "Geez, can you please stop referring me to things like 'it' and 'you'? Just call me something that sounds more like a name."_

 _"I don't know why I should when you're the one who's trying to ruin my entire life..." I snapped back._

 _"Come on, at least try to have some fun," the Darkness suggested. "You know your time is almost up..."_

 _I nodded. "I'm aware of that. But I'll just treasure every moment until then, and I'll find a way for us to even compromise..."_

 _The Darkness tisked. "Sure, but don't you realize that you only have a month or two left before I do my thing?"_

 _"It doesn't matter," I answered. "There's always an answer..."_

 _"You can't win..." The Darkness responded. "The world cannot survive without me. You know that's the truth..."_

 _"The world also can't survive without peace..." I snapped back. "You know I'm also right..."_

 _The Darkness' silhouette shook it's head. "I guess we won't know until it's time, will we?"_

 _I nodded. "Yeah..."_

 _"We'll talk soon..." The Darkness then vanished and the dark void around me faded to white._

 _As I blinked, my vision brought me back to reality._

I was still lying on my bed, staring up towards the ceiling. I sat upright on my bed and looked out the window, it was still the evening. I let out a sigh. "That thing just won't leave me alone, will it?"

*Knock! Knock!*

"Hm?" I heard at my door and snapped my attention to face the door. "It's open!"

The door opened and Gemine peeked her head through the doorway. "Heya! What's up?"

I stared at her with a puzzled expression. "I'm doing good, but how did you get here?"

Gemine formed a wide grin. "Easy! That tiny history teacher told me you lived here!"

"Do you mean Histoire?" I wondered.

Gemine smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that's her name!"

"Still, how'd you get in here?" I asked.

"Histoire let me in!" Gemine claimed. "She said she knew that I knew you! So I got the season pass into here!"

I sighed. "Whatever. What are you doing here?"

Gemine pouted a bit. "How rude of you! I came all this way to see you and this is what I get!?"

"N-No, I didn't mean it like that..." I quickly said. "I'm just not feeling up for talking right now..."

"Well, Mister, we need to catch up!" Gemine said. "We haven't talked in ages! You have a girlfriend now, a sweet crib and other cool stuff!"

I shrugged. "I guess I could tell you. Where do you want me to start?"

Gemine formed a wide grin. "From the very beginning! From birth!"

I let out a breath. "I don't know if I want to go that far back, but I guess I could still tell you, Jewel..."

Jewel glared at me upon hearing her original name. "Hey! How come you get to use my real name!? I didn't even know what your real name was until recently, Silver!"

I shrugged. "Sorry, I just didn't think I'd ever see you again..."

"Well that doesn't matter anymore, bub!" Jewel said. "Tell me all about your emo past!"

I let out another sigh. "Alright, if you say so..."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here is the end of the chapter! I uploaded this chapter earlier just because. Sadly, filler is over for now. Next week, we'll begin Arc Four, the Megadimension Arc! This time, I'll try to sum it up in about 40 to 50 chapters. However, I'll have to increase the number of words in each chapter because of this. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Did you have a childhood friend? If so, are you still friends with them?**


	130. Chapter 130

Chapter 130

 **Third Person POV**

 _When did this first begin? When did this all happen?_ The girl wondered.

As the girl stared out at the burning, ruined city, several balls of energy blasted towards the ground, crashing into the city and causing blinding explosions. The girl watched in horror as the balls of light took form.

She continued to watch the four balls of energy take colossal forms before they began to blast out energy towards the city, destroying more buildings and increasing the cities' ruins.

 _I don't know how long I can take this..._ The girl thought while she stared at the four colossal giants destroying the city.

The girl stood at the peak of a destroyed building and stared at the giants. _Someone, please help... Save me..._

* * *

"Where is she...?" Tolise murmured as he continued to walk around the park, searching for Neptune. "I could have sworn she was here..."

"Zzz... Zzzz..." While Tolise kept searching around the park filled with sakura trees, he heard the sound of sleeping coming from a nearby bush.

"Hm?" Tolise quickly jogged over to the bush and looked past it. He let out a sigh at what he saw. "Hey, Neptune. Wake up."

"Mmgh... Five more minutes..." Neptune rolled around as the sun bathed her while Tolise tried shaking her awake. "The Planeptune sun feels so nice..."

He stopped nudging her for a second to examine her. He noticed that Neptune had returned to wearing her hoodie dress.

Letting out a groan, Tolise stopped trying to nudge Neptune awake and stood back up. "Maybe you were influenced by Plutia a bit too much..."

"But it feels so good..." Neptune murmured. "You try it, Turtle..."

Tolise quickly shook his head. "Look, I came all this way looking for you so that you could get home before Histoire found out you were missing. Do you really want to sit for another lecture again?"

Neptune grumbled before pushing herself up. "Fine..."

Tolise let out a sigh. "Geez, you're such a kid, Neptune..."

Neptune shook her head as she yawned. "Nuh-uh. I just like to have fun..."

"Whatever, let's go—"

Before Tolise could finish speaking, he heard a nearby clunk sound that interrupted his talk. Tolise and Neptune then snapped their heads towards where the distant clunking sound had come from. "What was that?" Neptune asked as her senses slowly returned to her.

"I...don't know..." Tolise muttered. "Let's just get back to the Basilicom..."

Neptune shook her head. "No, let's go check it out! It could be some super rare item or something!"

Tolise sighed and shook his head. "I would rather not, but..."

Neptune formed a wide grin. "But you wouldn't deny me, would you?"

Tolise quietly shook his head, causing Neptune to let out a happy squeal. "Yay! Let's go!"

The two of them ran as fast as their legs could carry them, towards the sound's source. After running for a bit, they ended up in a dark, dirty alleyway. The only thing that was in the alleyway was a white game console with an orange swirl mark on it.

"I-Is that a gaming console?" Neptune asked.

"Seems like it," Tolise stared at the console in disbelief. "But why would there be a console in such good condition out here?"

"I don't know..." Neptune murmured. "I've never even seen this type of console before..."

"—Someone...please...s-save...the...Zero...Dimension..."

"Huh?" Neptune dashed towards the console, snatched it up and placed it right next to her ear, expecting to hear something. "That's strange. I could've sworn I just heard a voice come from this console..."

Tolise nodded. "Yeah, I did too."

"Well...um..." A mischievous smile formed onto Neptune's face. "How about we take this back to the Basilicom to...'investigate' this?"

Tolise let out his second sigh of the day. "Is that supposed to be your fancy way of saying you want to go play on it?"

Neptune nodded cheerfully. "Yup!"

Tolise just simply shook his head and shrugged. "Whatever. As long as it gets you home faster..."

At Tolise's approval, Neptune began to run back towards the Basilicom with Tolise tailing closely behind her.

"Nepgear, look!" Neptune held the console close to Nepgear's face as she and Tolise returned to the Basilicom. "Look at this retro game console I found on the streets!"

Nepgear stared at the console in worry. "N-Neptune... I don't think it's safe to just pick up things you find on the street... But it seems fun, so I'll play it. Welcome home, Neptune!"

"There you are, Neptune," Histoire floated into the room and glared coldly at Neptune. "Where have you been?"

"U-Um... Gathering shares?" Neptune tried.

"It is not the time to be slacking off, Neptune," Histoire started. "We're in the midst of the CPU Shift Period, so it's no time for goofing around."

Neptune stared blankly at Histoire. "U-Um... What's the CPU Shirt Pyramid?"

"Neptune..." Tolise and Nepgear stared at Neptune with worried expressions.

"Neptune," Histoire started, "the CPU Shift Period is when people begin to question the faith in their CPU and start looking for a different, more reliable CPU to follow. All the other nations are currently taking countermeasures at this, while you're still goofing around..."

"No, they're not," Tolise and Neptune stated in unison.

"H-Huh?" Histoire stared back at them with a shocked expression. "C-Come again?"

"Well, Neptune, clearly, isn't doing anything," Tolise pointed out. "And Vert is just getting ready for an MMO tournament."

"Yeah, and Blanc's writing her butt off cause she's got rookie novelists awards coming up soon," Neptune continued. "The only person who has really started countermeasures is lonely, lonely Noire!"

Histoire buried her face into her small hands. "Dear me... What have these four nations become...?"

"Relax, Histy!" Neptune reassured Histoire. "I'm the protag! That means we'll find a plot convenient way to solve this..."

Histoire simply shook her head. "I wish it were that simple... If any of you need me, I'll be in my office, developing a plan to save Planeptune once again..."

The instant Histoire disappeared from Neptune's range of sight, Neptune snapped her attention back to Nepgear and waved the console in her face. "Okay! Nepgear, fix this puppy up so that we can play it!"

"—P-Please...help..."

"What the goodness!" Nepgear jumped back as the voice came from the console once again. "N-Neptune, did that console just speak?!"

"Aha! So I wasn't going crazy back there!" Neptune said.

"Here, let me see that for a second," Nepgear said as she took the console from Neptune. Nepgear stared at the console in confusion. "I don't know how we'd be able to work this..."

"Hm?" As Nepgear pressed one of the console's buttons, a ball of orange energy began to hover over the console. "What is that...?"

"Woah!" Suddenly, the ball of energy expanded into a portal, sucking in everything in the room. "H-Hey! What's going on!"

"Ahhhh!" Without anytime to react, Tolise, Neptune and Nepgear were all sucked into the portal. The portal closed, and the console fell to the floor with a clunk...

* * *

 **Tolise's POV**

"H-Huh?" My eyes slowly fluttered open and focused onto the sight of, what appeared to be, a ruined city. I quickly scrambled to my feet and looked around. "W-What the hell...?"

I stared at the sight that stood before me. The city looked like a destroyed Planeptune except all the buildings were rusted, cracked or in ruins. The dark skies had glowing cracks running through the clouds, and the ground we stood upon also had glowing cracks running through them. "What is this...?"

As I continued scanning the destroyed city, I turned to see Nepgear with Neptune. Quickly, I ran to the two of them. "Hey, you two!"

"Hm?" Upon noticing me, Neptune and Nepgear wore relieved faces. "There you are! Say, do you know where this is?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm as confused as you two."

"Shame..." Neptune let out a sigh.

"If I had to take a guess, I'd say we're in a destroyed Planeptune," Nepgear suggested.

I nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking the exact same thing."

Neptune chuckled. "Yeah right! I could walk around Planeptune blindfolded! This place definitely isn't Planeptune! But it does look like an apocalyptic Planeptune though!"

"It doesn't matter," I said. "Let's just focus on finding someone else. Maybe there are some people nearby who can help us..."

"Right!" The girls nodded, and we all rose to our feet.

"GROAAHHH!"

"Eek!" Neptune quickly jumped behind me as I turned to the sight of a grotesque monster.

It was a purple-skinned monster with a bulky upper body, however it had no lower body. Instead of the legs, there was a large, beating heart attached right under the floating monster's top.

"What is that thing...?" Nepgear murmured as she stared at the monster in horror.

I shrugged. "I don't know, but it's really ugly..."

"Hey, Neptune," Nepgear turned to her sister, who had stopped hiding behind me. "Let's transform and defeat this thing!"

Neptune nodded. "Right!"

The two of them stood still, waiting for the white light to envelop them.

"…"

"H-Huh?" Neptune peeked her eyes open to see she was still in her normal form.

"Why didn't we transform?" Nepgear asked.

"GROAHH!" The monster swiped it's claws towards the two girls.

I quickly materialized a blade and sliced it's hand off, causing purple blood to stream from it's opening. I tisked. "Idiot..."

"GROOAH!"

"Hey," I turned back to the two girls. "Can you two still fight?"

The girls nodded and materialized their weapons. "I don't know why we can't transform, but we'll still beat this thing up!"

I shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe you need to get angry and yell for fifty chapters to awaken your HDD form..."

Neptune formed a wide grin. "Probably..."

"GROOOOAAAH!"

I turned back to see the monster speed towards us. The monster lunged forward and swiped at me.

I quickly jumped back to avoid the attack, receiving a slash to my clothes.

While it retracted from it's position, Neptune jumped over me and slammed her blade down onto the monster's hand, chopping off it's other hand.

"GROAAAAH!"

The monster backed up as more purple blood flowed out of it's open flesh.

"I got it!" Nepgear shouted as she lunged towards the monster.

While the monster continued to roar out in pain, Nepgear performed a flurry of slashes at the monster's chest, ending it off by driving her blade into the monster's giant heart.

"GROOOAAAH!"

The monster fell back and crashed to the ground as Nepgear pulled her blade out of the monster.

"D-Did we do it?" Nepgear questioned.

I nodded as Neptune and I appeared beside Nepgear. "Yeah, it wasn't actually that hard to beat. It was all bark and no bite!"

"Still... I've never seen a monster like that before..." Nepgear stated.

"Yeah, all the monster's are supposed to look stupidly cute and end up being really strong," Neptune said. "Maybe we're in the wrong franchise..."

"Oh! Wait, Neptune!" Nepgear turned her head to her older sister. "Neptune, I know why we can't transform! We don't have any shares!"

Neptune shook her head. "What!? That's impossible! I beat Noire in a certain poll, so there's no way Planeptune's shares could be at zero!"

"Then check," Nepgear suggested.

"Okay," Neptune closed her eyes and her neutral expression slowly turned into a horrified one. Her eyes bulged open. "WHAAAAT!? How could our shares be at zero!? Shares are what we need to survive!"

"We'll worry about that later," I said. "For now, let's keep moving. We have to find someone else."

"Oh! How about we climb that building?" Neptune suggested as she pointed towards a slanted building. "We can look for people up there!"

"H-Hey! Wait!" I called after Neptune as she began to run up the building. I turned to Nepgear. "Let's hurry and follow her!"

"Right!" Nepgear nodded, and we chased Neptune up to the tip of the slanted building.

"Woah..." We all stared at the sight in front of us in disbelief as we reached the building's tip.

"What's going on!?" Neptune shouted as she overlooked a destroyed, ruined city.

"J-Just...where are we?" Nepgear murmeud.

I gulped. "Wherever we are, it certainly isn't Planeptune..."

"Oh, look over there!" Nepgear pointed towards a person off in the distance; she was surrounded by several large robots. "That girl can't defend herself against all those monsters! Let's go help her!"

We all nodded, jumped off the building and, after recovering from our landing, ran towards the girl.

* * *

"Ha!"

As we reached the girl, I quickly slashed through a robot that was about to strike her from behind. The robot was severed in half and fell to the ground.

"Huh?" She turned to us, staring at us with a surprised look. "P-People?"

I stared at the girl. She had fair skin, crimson-colored hair in two, braided pigtails and her eyes were a scarlet color. She wore an open white jacket with gray accents and short sleeves; an orange tie—which had a white swirl mark on it—was wrapped around her loose collar.

She wore two black gloves; the left one had a watch-like device attached to it. While her right arm had an orange and black sleeve, her left arm had a black sleeve. At her pelvis region, she wore a pair of gray, pleated shorts, held up by black suspenders. Along with her orange-accented black boots, she wore large leg warmers—one black, one striped orange and black—with button pins.

"Look! It's our first follower!" Neptune ran up to her and grinned. "Hiya! I'm Nep—"

"Argh! Not more reinforcements!" The girl snarled.

"H-Huh?" We all stared at the girl with puzzled expressions.

"Rah!"

"Woah!"

As the girl smashed a black and orange megaphone down towards Neptune, Neptune quickly materialized her weapon and pushed back against the strike. "Wait! What're you doing!?"

The girl ignored Neptune's question and smirked. "You're pretty strong! My name's Uzume Tennuboshi! What's yours?"

"I-It's...N-Neptune...!" Neptune grunted out as she struggled to push back against the girl's megaphone.

N-Nepu... Argh! You're name's too hard to say!" Uzume blurted out.

 _Why's she fighting with a megaphone...?_ I thought.

"H-Hey, can we just talk?" Neptune asked. "We just got sucked up by some portal, and it'd be really helpful if we could have someone help us out!"

"Heh! Like I'd believe that garbage!" Uzume continued pushing against Neptune's blade. "You won't fool me, you fake!"

"Look, I know I'm one of Gamindustri's nicest people, but I'm about to get super pissed!" Neptune shouted back.

"G-Gamindustri?" Uzume's expression changed to a confused one.

"Yah!" Taking advantage of Uzume's confusion, Neptune pushed Uzume off of her. "Haa...haaa..."

"Damnit! Stop talking nosense!" Uzume barked as she raised her megaphone. "I'm going to finish this! Take this!"

"Right back at 'cha!" The two girls lunged towards each other.

"Wait! Stop!" Nepgear quickly dashed in between them.

"Oh no! I can't stop!" Neptune shouted.

"Neither can I!" Uzume said.

"H-Huh?" Nepgear stood there, petrified.

I lunged forward and increased my speed. Before either of the weapons could make contact with Nepgear, I grabbed both Neptune and Uzume's wrist and flung them both away. Luckily, they both miraculously landed on their feet.

"Man, can you two just stop fighting?" I asked.

"S-Sorry..." Uzume apologized.

Nepgear nodded. "Yeah, we just want to ask you some questions."

"Yeah! So don't just sexually assault me like that!" Neptune blurted out.

Nepgear glared at Neptune. "You shouldn't have attacked her either, Neptune."

Neptune bowed her head. "Sorry..."

"Vrrrr..." The group of robots that had been patiently standing there called out to us.

"Look, we can talk about this later," Uzume said as she turned to face the group of robots. "Right now, you either help me defeat these bitches or run off with the others!"

"T-The others?" Nepgear repeated.

"I'd rather fight!" Neptune said. "So let's do this thing!"

"Alright!" Uzume, without waiting, charged towards the robots. "Die, you freaks!"

Uzume let out a loud shout into her megaphone, sending sonic waves that blasted the robots down to the ground.

Uzume then jumped towards one, and smashed her megaphone against it's head. The robot's head was smashed into pieces, and Uzume backed up just as the robot blew up.

"VRRRR!"

"Huh?"

"Tah!"

Another robot lunged towards Uzume from behind. However, I stepped in between them and kicked the robot away. The robot smashed into a destroyed building, and I filled my hands with my Devil's energy.

I ran threw the smoke and smashed my fist at the robot as it stood up. My fist smashed through it's body, and I pulled back my arm.

The robot began to malfunction, so I kicked it away just as it blew up.

I turned back to see Neptune impale the last robot with her blade.

As she pulled it out, Nepgear lunged over Neptune and brought her weapon down onto the robot's head, smashing it into nuts and bolts.

The two of them quickly jumped off, and the robot blew up.

"We're done!" Neptune shouted.

"I'm done too!" I shouted.

We all grouped back up with Uzume. "I guess I should thank you three. Sorry, I just haven't seen any humans here before, and I thought you were it's henchmen..."

"Huh? You mean you've been fighting these things all by yourself?" Neptune asked.

Uzume nodded. "Yeah."

"By the way, who's this 'it' person?" I asked.

"Well, it's more like—"

Before Uzume could explain, a blinding purple light appeared from the sky, and a purple ball of energy shot down towards the ground, creating an explosion upon impact.

"What the hell is that thing...?" I murmured.

"T-That's the 'it'," Uzume stated. "Watch."

We all continued to watch the ball of purple energy as it began to morph into a colossal titan-like form. It's form resembled Neptune's HDD form.

However, the differences were that the colossal being was gray-skinned, it was the size of a skyscraper and it wore a black helmet with a red, transparent visor shielding it's eyes.

"What is that!?" Neptune shouted.

"I don't really know," Uzume admitted. "But I've been fighting this thing for some time now. But, this time, I'll crush it!"

"What!?" Nepgear stared at Uzume, dumbfounded. "Uzume, you can't take that thing on! It completely towers over us!"

"Listen, it's my duty as a CPU to protect my nation, so I'm going to do just that!" Uzume stated.

"W-Wait, you're a CPU, Uzume?" Neptune asked.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you," Uzume let out a chuckle. "It doesn't matter now! Because I'm still going to take this thing down!"

"Neptune, do something!" Nepgear pleaded.

Neptune formed a wide grin and waved her wooden sword. "Alright! Let's take this thing down!"

"H-Huh?" Nepgear began to stare at her sister with a dumbfound expression.

"This is perfect, Nepgear!" Neptune said. "I've always wanted to fight something like a Transformer! Now all we need are the explosions!"

"No, you three would only hinder me. Just go," Uzume said.

I chuckled. "I don't think you know what we're really capable of."

Nepgear nodded. "T-That's right! We'll fight with you!"

"No, just go!" Uzume shouted.

"Uzume, we're going to fight alongside you," Nepgear stated. "But can we at least head back to someplace safe and get ready? If we're going to fight this thing, then we'll have to be in our best condition."

Uzume nodded. "I-I guess you're right. I have a base not too far from here. C'mon! Let's go!"

We nodded and followed Uzume towards her base as the giant slowly advanced...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And here is the end of the first chapter of Arc Four! So, chapters will become longer, but I won't be setting a specific word limit anymore. That's all I got to say for now. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Would you spend the last day alive having fun or saying goodbye?**


	131. Chapter 131

Chapter 131

After running off to a nearby abandoned building, we found ourselves in a room with canned food, beds, water jugs and computer terminals scattered around the room.

"Well, it's not much, but this is my base of operation," Uzume said as she allowed us to see the room. "What do you guys think?"

"It's so awesome! You get to sleep on beds in an old, abandoned building!" Neptune shouted.

"This place has everything you need to survive! It's like a base from an anime!" Nepgear added.

I formed a wide grin. "It's kinda like the Bat Cave, except in an abandoned building..."

"Really!?" Uzume stared at us with bright eyes. "So you guys understand how cool of a base this place is?!"

Neptune nodded. "Nep yeah!"

Uzume let out a giggle. "Well, if you can understand how cool this place is, then I guess you all can't be that bad of people!"

We all formed grins at her words.

"Now then, time to get serious," Uzume's face switched to a more serious one. "Now, our enemy is that giant you saw earlier. Whenever it comes, it brings along a horde of monsters, meaning we have to take them out before we can face the giant."

Neptune nodded. "That sounds simple enough."

Uzume shook her head. "I wish it were. For as long as I've been fighting that giant, I've never been able to make a dent in it."

"No way!" Neptune stared, jaw gaped, at Uzume.

"But, this time, it'll be different!" Uzume stated. "Now that I have you four here to help me, I know that we can defeat the giant!"

We all nodded. "Yeah!"

Uzume smiled at our response. "Thank you, all of you. We won't be back here again, so make sure you take all your belongings with you..."

We nodded one final time and went off to prepare for the upcoming fight...

* * *

We had all eaten a quick meal, bandaged whatever wounds we had and rushed back to where the giant was still roaming around.

"Alright, you guys ready?" Uzume asked as we all stood up.

Neptune nodded. "Ready as a bee!"

I nodded. "Yeah, let's do this."

Nepgear also gave a firm nod. "Yes, I'm also ready."

Uzume turned back to the sight of the giant slowly approaching us. "Good. Like I said before, there's going to be a wave of monsters that are going to try to stop us from taking on the giant. So, we have to defeat them first."

I materialized a blade. "Sure, I got it."

"GROOAAAAR!"

We all turned our attention back to where the wave of monsters were approaching from.

The first thing to speed towards us was a giant, floating whale-like monster with jagged spikes running down it's back. It had several antennas placed evenly around it's body and it's skin seemed to be rough and hard.

"Man, this dimension really does have some strange creatures..." I muttered.

"Get ready!" Uzume shouted before taking a stance.

"GROOOOAAAR!"

The whale monster let out another roar as we all took stances.

Raising our weapons, the whale monster sped towards us, despite it's large size.

The whale rocketed towards me, and I slid to the side, slashing at one of the whale's antennas.

As my blade cut cleanly through the whale's antenna, the whale suddenly began to emit lightning, creating a cloak of lightning around it.

"Wait..." I stared at the whale's antennas, which were producing lightning.

While the lightning's area expanded, Uzume blasted a sonic wave towards the whale, canceling it's lightning and causing the whale to crash into a destroyed building.

I turned to see Neptune and Nepgear charge towards the whale. "Hey, you two! Focus on slicing off it's antennas!"

"Roger dodger!"

"Right!"

Upon reaching the whale, Neptune slashed at one side of the whale, slicing off an antenna, and followed up by materializing another blade, stabbing it into the whale's scaly body.

"GROOOAAAR!"

While the whale cried out in pain, Nepgear came down from the sky and slashed her blade down towards the whale, managing to slice off two of it's antennas.

I stared at the whale and smirked. "There are only two left!"

"I got this!" Uzume called out as she dashed towards the whale. However, she carried no weapon with her.

"Uzume! What are you doing?! You need a weapon!" I shouted towards her.

She jumped towards the whale, ready to smash her fist into it's face. "Don't worry! I'll be fin—"

Before Uzume could try to relieve us of our worries, the whale used it's last two antennas and shielded it's body once again.

"Damnit!" Uzume cursed.

Since she was traveling downwards, ready to smash her fist against the whale's lightning, I threw my blade at the whale's last two antennas.

"GROOARGH!"

The blade managed to slice through both of them just as Uzume collided her fist against the whale's head.

"Take this!"

Uzume smashed her fist against the whale's head, causing it to sink into the ground before blowing up into chunks of meat and bits of blood.

Uzume let out a sigh as she stared back at us. "Good job, you guys!"

"Uzume, don't do that again," Nepgear pleaded. "You almost got shocked by that whale thing!"

Uzume waved off Nepgear's plead. "It's fine! It's nothing a little spit can't fix after all!"

"Whatever. As long as you're still kicking, it's fine," I reassured Uzume.

"But that punch you did was so cool, Uzume!" Neptune chimed in. "It was like something straight out of a fighting anime!"

Uzume's eyes began to sparkle. "Y-You think so, Nepsy?"

We all blinked at Uzume. "N-Nepsy?"

"Well, yeah," Uzume shrugged. "You're actual name is too freakin' hard to say, so you'll be Nepsy from now on!"

Neptune formed a wide grin. "Sweet!"

Uzume then turned to Nepgear. "By the way, I'll call you Gearsy. Y'know, since both of you can't be called Nepsy."

Nepgear let out a giggle. "Gearsy... I like it!"

She then turned to me with an apologetic look. "Sorry, Tolise. I couldn't think up of a name for you. All that kept popping up in my head were turtles..."

I chuckled. "Of course..."

"GROAAH!"

We spun our heads around to see a large, dirty troodon-like monsters running rapidly towards us. As it stopped in front of us, I noticed that it wore a large black choker collar, had four legs and jagged spikes running down it's back.

"Heh, of course you'd be here, you bastard!" Uzume grinned at the monster. "This time, I'll end you because I brought some friends who want to see you dead!"

"U-Uzume, do you know this monster?" Nepgear asked curiously.

"Oh, we're very well acquainted. We've battled so many times, you could practically call us rivals!" Uzume said. "Whenever I'm about to fight the giant, this bastard always pops up and stops me!"

"GROAAR!"

Uzume stepped up to the monster and pulled out a glowing blue crystal. "This time, I'm going to end this!"

Nepgear gasped as she stared at the crystal. "T-That's a Share Crystal!"

While Nepgear stared at the crystal in shock, Uzume smashed the crystal in her hand, leaving only the energy residing in it. The energy then enveloped Uzume in a blinding white light.

"Ta-Daaa~!" The light disappeared and a cheerful looking girl appeared. "Transformation complete!"

We all stared at the CPU in shock. "W-Who are you!?"

The girl that stood before us—probably Uzume—had a very bright appearance to her. Her hair style remained the same, except the crimson color had been changed to a bright orange color; her eyes were now sky blue and she wore a white head piece that resembled Histoire's.

Her outfit she wore resembled a sleeveless white one-piece outfit with orange highlights. Underneath, she wore a skin-tight blue top; she wore cut-off white sleeves with gray accents.—which clung to her skin—along with white gloves. However, her left sleeve had a large circular device attached to it. Also, she wore white, ankle-high boots with multple colors of highlight—blue, orange and gray.

The Uzume pouted at us. "Awww, that's so mean, you guys... It's me, Uzume! U-Zu-Me!"

I shook my disbelief away and stared at Uzume. "U-Um... Let's just focus on taking out that monster..."

Uzume nodded and materialized her megaphone. "Okey-dokey!"

"GROAAR!"

As we finished talking, the monster charged towards us.

It sped towards Nepgear, ready to rip her to shreds.

While Nepgear stood there petrified, Uzume appeared between the monster and Nepgear. The monster continued to charge towards the two of them.

Uzume dropped her megaphone and an orange energy formed around her right hand, forming into an orange drill. She then charged towards the monster and smashed her energy drill against it, piercing part of it's neck and blowing it away.

The monster then slammed it's feet into the ground, causing it to slowly come to a halt. "GROOAR!"

As it let out another roar, it sped towards Uzume and rammed into her, sending her crashing to a building.

"Ouchie..." Uzume massaged herself as she appeared from the building.

But the monster charged at her once again, this time it was ready to chomp her head off. I quickly dashed towards the monster and kicked at it's jaw, jerking it's neck to the side.

The monster stumbled back and was attacked from behind by Neptune and Nepgear.

The two of them stabbed their blades into the monster's legs, crumpling it to the ground. As the two of them pulled out their blades, the monster swung it's tail and flung them away.

While the monster lay on the ground, I ran towards it and brought my fist onto it.

However, it snapped it's head up and dug it's teeth into my right hand, causing a searing pain to blow up in my hand.

"Urgh!"

While the pain continued to rise, the monster let go of me and smacked it's tail against me, knocking me to the ground.

I stared at my bloody hand as the open gash healed itself. "How is this thing fighting better without legs!?"

"Quick! Let's hurry and—"

Before Neptune could command us, the monster forced itself onto it's feet and began limping away.

"It...ran away?" Nepgear watched curiously as the monster limped away.

"Yeah, that's right! Get outta town!" Neptune shouted towards the monster.

"Yay! We beat up the doggie!" Uzume let out a happy squeal and smiled brightly.

We all stared at her. "D-Doggie?" Nepgear wondered.

"It's all thanks to you three! Thanks Nepsy, Gearsy and Mr. Turtle!" Uzume thanked.

I sighed. "Well, it's a start..."

"By the way, what's your name...um...CPU Uzume?" Nepgear asked.

Uzume continued to smile. "It's Orange Heart!" She flashed us a peace sign.

"Wow, you're so moe and cute in your HDD form!" Neptune said. "I thought you'd turn into a physco, aggressive gal, but it's the complete opposite! It's so cool!"

"Wait, Nepsy. How do you know about CPUs?" Uzume asked curiously.

"Oh yeah, that's right!" Neptune let out a laugh. "Nep Jr. and I are actually CPUs too!"

Uzume gasped. "Really? Pinky promise?"

Neptune formed a grin. "Cross my heart! I'm Purple Heart, the awesome, sexy CPU of Planeptune!"

"Wow! That's so cool!" Uzume turned excitedly towards Nepgear. "Does that mean you're a CPU too, Gearsy?"

"U-Um... techincally," Nepgear answered. "I'm just the CPU Candidate of Planeptune right now..."

"Wow! That's so cool!" Uzume said.

Suddenly, the white light enveloped her, and she reverted back to her original form. "Crap! Ran out of time!"

"Hm? Uzume, you have a time limit?" I asked.

Uzume nodded. "Yeah. I can only go into my HDD form for as long as the energy allows me to. It's a temporary transformation really..."

"Still, it's pretty cool!" Neptune said.

"Oh, shoot!" Uzume pulled up her watch as it began glowing. "Yo, Umio. Has everyone been cleared out yet?"

A male voice spoke. "Yes, all thanks to you, Uzume. There is no longer any need to restrain yourself. Fight your best."

Uzume grinned and nodded. "Alright. Thanks, Umio!"

"Wait, who was that?" Neptune asked. "He sounds handsome..."

Uzume smirked. "He's just an old friend of mine."

"RAAAH!"

While we talked, the giant stomped it's gigantic leg and caused us all to jump a bit into the air from the temor. We all turned back to face the giant; it was staring down at us.

"Here it is! Come on! Let's take this thing down!" Uzume said.

"I-I'm not sure that we can..." Nepgear said. "We're still recovering from those two fights. I don't think we can take this thing on, especially since you're no longer in your HDD form!"

"Are you kidding me!? I haven't had a chance like this in such a long time!" Uzume shook her head. "I don't think you guys would get it, but I'm going to fight this thing! It's my duty as a CPU to protect me nation! I'll fight even if I don't have any limbs, even if my flesh is ripped to shreds!"

"Hi-yaah!" Neptune lunged towards Uzume from behind and chopped her neck.

Uzume stumbled forward at Neptune's chop. "O-Ow... What the hell was that for?!"

"You can't fight that thing now! Live to fight another day!" Neptune protested. "You know what they say! Where there's a light, there's a rope!"

Uzume and I stared at Neptune with a confused expression. "A-A rope?"

"I think she means rope..." Nepgear corrected her.

Neptune nodded. "Yeah, that's it!"

"Look, it doesn't matter!" Uzume claimed. "I'm doing th—"

"Look out!"

Just as Neptune pulled Uzume out of the way, a barrage of energy blasts blew up the area they were previously standing at. Nepgear and I ran up to them. "Hey! Are you two alright!?"

Neptune appeared with Uzume out of the smoke. "Yeah! We're fine!"

"Look, I'm going to take this thing on!" Uzume repeated.

Neptune shook her head and turned to Nepgear. "No, you're not. Nep Jr., help me grab Uzume and we'll blow this pineapple stand!"

"Okay!" Nepgear grabbed Uzume by one side while Neptune grabbed the other and they hoisted her over their shoulders. "Let's go!"

"H-Hey! Put me down!" Uzume demanded as she squirmed around.

Ignoring Uzume's cries, the two girls carried Uzume away while I made sure the giant didn't follow after us.

After running for a bit and exiting the destroyed city, we reached a dirt wasteland filled with nothing but dead plants and dirt.

"Okay..." Neptune heaved out a sigh as she and Nepgear set Uzume down. "Tolise, is it still after us?"

I shook my head as I jogged up to them. "No, it didn't follow us at all really. We're safe now."

"Damnit!" Uzume punched the dirt we now stood upon. "You two girls are CPUs! You should know that it's a CPU's duty to protect their nation no matter what!"

"That's true and all, but you also have to be alive to do that!" Neptune pointed out. "How are you going to protect a nation if you're dead?"

Upon hearing Neptune's words, Uzume sighed. "Sorry, I guess you're right... T-Thanks..."

"No problem, buddy!" Neptune responded happily.

"We can try fighting that giant again once we've all healed up a bit," Nepgear suggested. "We can't just rush into this recklessly."

Uzume nodded. "Yeah, I guess so... At least we beat that dumb mutt..."

"Come on. Let's head base," I advised. "It's already been an eventful day."

* * *

A day had passed since we had escaped from the giant. It still bothered me that the giant had had a design that resembled Purple Heart.

"There's gotta be a connection between those two..." I muttered as I rose from the spring mattress. I stretched my body and looked back down at the row of spring beds sitting on the floor. "Oh boy. Isn't this nostalgic...?"

I shook myself from my thoughts and walked out to the main room where we ate breakfast. However, there was nobody to be found. "Hm? Wonder where they went..."

After we had traveled to another one of Uzume's bases the night before, we had asked Uzume various questions such as where we were and what the giant was.

To this, Uzume had told us that she had no idea where we were nor what the giant really was. She had explained how she had actually lost her memory but knew that there were four nations and three other giants; the other nations had been erased from existence by each giant. She told how she had woken up, only knowing that the giant was evil and that she was the CPU. To add to that, she was the only human in the nation. The only others that resided in the nation were friendly, talking monsters. When we had questioned her about where the giant currently was, she responded saying it just disappeared and later reappeared. Also, she told us that her CPU transformation was completely reliant on Share Crystals, which were found lying around the nation here and there.

Uzume had then reversed the situation and had begun asking us questions instead; she asked us where we had come from. We had explained to her we had come from Planeptune—which had, for some reason—caused her to get a slight headache.

After that, she had asked me if I was Neptune and Nepgear's older brother. This had caused Neptune to go into a panic. I had remained quiet at this question, while Neptune blushed, and Nepgear tried to explain the situation to Uzume.

I sighed before deciding to head to the roof for some fresh air to help wake myself up and to clear my head.

"H-Huh?"

"U-Um..."

"…."

"…."

However, when I opened the door to the rooftop, I found all three girls stark naked on the rooftop taking a shower. Upon hearing the sound of the door opening, they all stared at me with looks mixed with embarrassment, anger and horror.

From where I was standing at, I could see everything about their bodies. Every single detailed, private part.

Neptune sighed. "Oh yeah. I forgot you were sleeping..."

"…" I slowly backed up, clicked the door close and headed back downstairs with my flustered face. As I reached the bottom of the stairs, I heard loud shrieks come from the roof. I let out a sigh. "I'm so dead..."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And here's this chapter's end! I'd like to know what you guys think of the new way I'm formatting fight scenes. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Would you rather fight a losing battle or run away?**


	132. Chapter 132

Chapter 132

"O-Owww..." I let out a groan as I forced myself off of my bed. Every part of my body ached.

Soon after the girls had finished showering, Uzume had ran back downstairs, kicked me to the floor and began pummeling away at me. Needless to say, every part of my body ended up in a throbbing pain when I woke up.

Although I could let my Devil heal me, I decided to let the pain stay there, reminding me to always knock and not walk in on naked, bathing girls—like an anime protagonist. "Well...let's see where they are today..."

I walked out to the main room to find everyone getting their gear ready. "Hm? Where are you guys going?" I asked.

Uzume shrugged. "We're going out for patrolling. You can come if you want."

I nodded. "It's not like I have anything better to do..."

"Then come with us!" Neptune suggested. "It'll be super fun!"

I sighed. "Sure..."

* * *

"Well, I'd call that pretty successful!" Neptune said while we continued walking back to our base.

I nodded. "The monsters weren't too difficult to defeat and it was a pretty fun trip."

After a pretty easy patrol session, we were now heading back to Uzume's base. While we had been defeating the monsters in the city, Nepgear had been messing with public phone booths and Uzume's Visual Radio, the device Uzume had strapped to her left hand and had let Nepgear borrow.

"I'm ready to get home and just sleep," Uzume said before stretching her arms and yawning.

Suddenly, Uzume's Visual Radio began to ring. Uzume quickly clicked it and spoke. "Yo, what's up, Umio?"

"It's good to see you, Uzume. I have some new for you," Umio said.

Uzume brought the Visual Radio closer to her face. "News? What kind of news?"

A chuckle came from the other end of the call. "Well, I've located a Share Crystal and have it right here in my possessions."

Uzume's eyes widened. "Really!?"

"Yes. All that's left to do is bring it back and—What the!? Argh!" At Umio's cry, the call went to static.

"Umio?! Umio!" Uzume gritted her teeth. "Damnit! I think Umio might have gotten ambushed..."

"Do you think he'll be alright?" Nepgear asked concernly.

Uzume nodded. "I'm sure he'll be fine. Don't worry! Once we rescue him, I'll introduce you guys."

We nodded. "Then let's go and save him!" Neptune said.

Uzume smiled. "Thanks. It really means a lot to me that you guys are helping me with this..."

I returned her smile with my own. "Of course! What are friends for?"

"We're going to help you for as long as we can!" Nepgear added.

Uzume continued smiling and let out a laugh. "Well, I'm not going to stop you. If we're going, we'll have to walk a bit to a nearby town. Is that okay?"

I shrugged. "I don't mind."

Neptune smiled. "Neither do I!"

"I-I'm okay with it too..." Nepgear added.

"Okay," Uzume said. "Then, let's go..."

* * *

"Alright, Umio should be around here somewhere..." Uzume scanned the area around her. However, it was just nothing but destroyed buildings.

"He could be anywhere..." I muttered.

Uzume let out a sigh. "I really wish that someone would appear and just tell us where he was..."

"I wish it could be that easy..." Nepgear murmured.

Uzume smiled back at her. "You don't know! It could be like in one of those movies! We'll just happen to run into them! Maybe one of them managed to escape!"

Uzume then began to emit a sparkly aura as her speech and voice began to change. "Then, they'll lead us to the meanie monster that hurt Umio and beat it up!"

"…" We watched as her personality slowly began to morph into her HDD personality.

"And when we beat the meanie monster, we'll save Umio and we'll all eat cakes!" Uzume finished off.

"…" We could only stare at Uzume with disbelief.

"O-Oh..." Uzume cleared her throat and her normal speech returned to her. "Y-Yeah! So there's a chance we could run into somebody who was there..."

"U-Uzume... W-What was that just now?" I asked.

"W-What was what?" Uzume asked nervously.

"What was that thing you turned into just now!?" Neptune asked.

"Y-You guys must be delusional! I-It must be those monsters casting illusions on you all!" Uzume claimed.

"I'm pretty sure that wasn't it..." Nepgear murmured.

"Yeah, your personality turned sort of into your HDD form's personality..." I added.

"Y-You're hearing things!" Uzume claimed.

"Uzume! Uzume!" We turned our heads to see a Babybug scurrying towards us. "It's an emergency!"

"Sweet! Good timing, Babybug!" Uzume relieved a sigh.

"H-Huh?" Upon reaching our feet, the Babybug stared up at Uzume with a puzzled expression. "G-Good timing?"

"D-Don't worry about it!" Uzume said. "Now, what's up?"

The Babybug nodded. "It's terrible! Umio found a Share Crystal but got attacked by monsters!"

"Really?! Do you know where he is right now?" Uzume asked.

The Babybug nodded once again. "Yes. We were together but separated when the monsters showed up. I can lead you to him if you'd like..."

Uzume nodded. "Please do..."

Hearig Uzume's last words, the Babybug turned back around and began scurrying away with Uzume tagging closely behind it.

Neptune, Nepgear and I watched as they hurried away. "So...um... What do you guys think that thing was that Uzume just turned into?" Neptune asked.

I shrugged. "Maybe she's bipolar?"

"I...honestly don't know..." Nepgear answered. "I can't believe her prediction was right..."

"It was pretty interesting though..." Neptune said. "I wonder if we can get it to happen again..."

I shuddered at the thought. "I don't. It's not right. It's just too out of character..."

"But it's so cute and moe!" Neptune said.

"Whatever..." I looked off towards the distance, seeing Uzume only as a speck. "Let's just hurry and catch up to them."

* * *

We were led into an abandoned subway station deep in the town. Of course, no trains were functioning. I stared at the place in admiration. "I didn't think they'd have a subway station here..."

"We used this place as our home. We thought we found a Share Crystal so we contacted Umio to make sure if it was real. When we discovered it was real, a group of monsters attacked him. He's locked up in a closet right now, guarding the Share Crystal," the Babybug explained. "Please hurry and save Umio!"

Uzume nodded. "Don't worry. We'll save Umio, get the Share Crystal and stomp those monsters to the ground!"

"Wait, do you have any food?" Neptune asked the Babybug.

"F-Food?" The Babybug stared up at Neptune with a puzzled expression.

"Yeah, like pudding or fried shrimp or fried Babybug?" Neptune listed off.

"Wow, Nepsy, your nation eats Babybugs?" Uzume asked curiously.

Neptune shook her head. "Nah, I heard that they taste terrible. But, if you deep fry them in oil, they're supposed to taste like fried shrimp!"

"Woah, that's so cool!" Uzume blurted out.

"Say..." Neptune turned to the Babybug. "Do you think that, if I ate a bit of you, you would taste like fried shrimp?"

The Babybug's eyes bulged and it began to shudder. "N-No! I don't taste like fried shrimp! I don't taste good at all!" The Babybug turned to Uzume as Neptune began licking her lips. "U-Uzume! Save me!"

"Hmm..." Uzume formed a wide grin. "Maybe you would taste like fried shrimp!"

"N-No! P-P-Please don't eat me!" The Babybug shriveled up into a corner as Uzume and Neptune inched closer and closer towards it.

"Enough, you two!" Nepgear stepped in between the Babybug and the two girls. "The poor thing is scared to death!"

"Sorry, sorry... I guess I took the joke a bit too far, didn't I?" Neptune wondered.

"A-A...joke...?" The Babybug stared up at Neptune with a look of disbelief.

"We weren't gonna eat ya!" Neptune said. "I'm actually hungry, but I wouldn't eat you..."

The Babybug let out a sigh, and I turned to Neptune, pulling out a granola bar from my back pocket. "Here, Neptune. Eat this. I found it in an abandoned store while we were patrolling earlier."

"Thanks!" Neptune happily took the granola bar and began to chewing away at it.

I turned back to the Babybug. "Sorry, but can you keep leading us to Umio?"

The Babybug nodded. "Yes."

"Then let's get going!" Neptune shouted.

"O-Okay!" The Babybug quickly began to scurry off in a direction, and we followed after it.

After following the Babybug for a minute or so, we ended up in a large room filled with dozens of Dogoos and Babybugs. "Hey everyone! It's Miss Uzume!" A Dogoo shouted.

"Yay! Uzume's here!" A Babybug cheered.

"WOAH! There so many Dogoos and Babybugs in here!" Neptune exclaimed. "But why are they talking?"

"Beats me," I said. "But there are so many of them in here."

"I've never seen so many of them in one place before..." Nepgear muttered.

"Uzume! Please defeat the bad monsters and save Umio!" Another one of the many Babybugs pleaded.

Uzume nodded. "You can count on me! It'll be fine!"

"Wait, where is Umio supposed to be anyways?" I asked.

"He had just gotten the Share Crystal when he was attacked by some scary monsters!" A Dogoo explained. "He's holding up in the closet right now, holding onto the Share Crystal!"

Uzume nodded. "Alright, I got it. You guys are actually pretty brave to decide to make this place your home..."

"C'mon! Let's go save this guy!" Neptune said. "I want to meet him! I bet you his appearance is as godly as his voice!"

"Can't promise you anything, Nepsy," Uzume said. "But, I'll try..."

"You probably also shouldn't set your expectations that high either," I advised. "You'll probably end up being disappointed..."

Neptune smirked. "When have I ever been wrong?"

"U-Um..." Nepgear and I exchanged glances.

"Whatever, let's go save Umio!" Uzume said as she ran towards the last room while we tagged along behind her.

"Hey! Yo, Umio! You in there?" Uzume shouted through a door as we reached the last room.

"Yes, I'm in here," Umio confirmed. "Quick get me out of here!"

Uzume gave a quick nod. "You got it!"

Before Uzume could get a chance to bash down the door with her fists, a monster crashed through a wall. It's appearance resembled a black horse with purple spots and it had a skeletal frame surrounding it, giving it a bone armor.

"I was wondering where the monster was..." I commented.

"I thought there would be more monsters though..." Nepgear admitted.

"It doesn't matter!" Uzume claimed. "The sooner we defeat this dumb thing, the faster we can save Umio!"

"NEEIGH!"

As we all materialized our weapons, the horse monster charged towards us, materializing a pair of skeletal horns onto it's head as it closed in on us.

The horse rammed it's head towards Nepgear. She jumped back and swiftly sliced the horns off before kicking the horse away, cracking a bit of it's skeletal protection.

The horse stomped it's feet to the floor and skidded to a halt. It then began to glare at us with it's piercing, red eyes.

"I thought this thing was a horse!" I blurted out.

Neptune let out a chuckle. "Maybe it's the legendary Horseborn!"

The four of us scattered away and surrounded the horse. I let out a sigh. "If that thing starts doing shouts, I swear I'll—"

"NEIGH!"

Before I could finish my sentence, the horse turned to me and roared me a neigh. I was instantly slammed against a wall by a powerful force. "Ugh... Neptune... I swear..." I picked myself up and glared back at the horse.

"Neigh!"

The horse let out another neigh and returned my glare. "You're in the wrong game, you dumb horse!"

I dashed towards the horse and prepared myself.

I watched as the horse let out another neigh and shouted out another powerful blast. This time, I focused all of my energy to my feet and slid out of the way of the blast.

The sound of the blast blowing up the wall sounded as the horse turned it's eyes to me. Our eyes locked.

I lunged towards the horse and, focusing my energy to my arms, began chopping away at it's skeletal frame.

The horse turned to me and got ready to bash me with it's head just as it's bone armor fell to the ground.

The head reached inches away from my body and I lunged myself over it's head, twisted my body back around and threw my blade down at it, piercing through the horse's back.

"NEIGH!"

The horse crumpled to the ground, and Neptune ran up to it and sliced at it.

The horse's head was cut in half, and the halves slowly began to separate, revealing it's insides. "Nice! We did it!" Neptune and I exchanged high fives.

"Umio, open up!" Uzume knocked on the door once again. The door creaked open, and Uzume peeked her head in. "Umio, it's all clear! Now come on out, I want you to meet some friends!"

"Some friends?" Umio asked.

Uzume stuck her head back out and motioned for us to come to the door. "Come on, you guys! I want you to meet Umio!"

"Oh! Me first!" Neptune zipped towards the door and peeked her head in. She gasped at what she saw. "Holy something!"

"Hm? What is it?" Nepgear and I approached the door and also stuck our heads in.

"Woah..." I whistled lowly at what I saw.

"Everyone, this is Umio!" Uzume introduced us.

"U-Um..." Neptune, Nepgear and I could just stare at Umio with shocked faces.

Umio wasn't a human, he was actually a blue freshwater fish with yellow fins. However, his face was a tan color and his face was completely blank.

"Greetings, I'm Umio. Pleased to meet you all," the fish greeted us as it began sliding out of the room. It seemed that Umio only used his fins for swimming through the air.

We let him escape the room. "S-So...you're Umio, huh?" I asked.

The freshwater fish nodded. "That's right. Thank you all for saving me."

"Wow, I thought he would be a super handsome guy, but he's just a fish..." Neptune sighed. "That heavenly voice of his is so not suited for a fish..."

Nepgear nodded in agreement. "Y-Yeah..."

Uzume sighed and stared at Umio. "You can't tell me he's not adorable..."

Nepgear stared at Uzume with a worried look. "A-Adorable?"

"I-I...don't think I would call that fish adorable..." Neptune murmured.

"You'll get used to it, Neptune..." I said. "Eventually..."

Uzume smiled at Umio. "So, what's the situation, Umio?"

"Well, here," Umio showed Uzume the Share Crystal in his fin. "After I had located the Share Crystal, a monster forced me into this room."

Umio stared down at the monster we had killed. "However, that's not the monster that had trapped me..."

We cocked our heads at him. "It's not?"

Umio shook her head. "No..."

"GROAARGH!"

We turned our heads to the source of the roar and the dinosaur monster—from a few days ago—crashed through the wall, glaring at us. I turned to Umio. "Is that it?"

Umio nodded. "Yes, that thing trapped me in that room."

"Damnit! Why'd that mutt have to run here!?" Uzume gritted her teeth. "Well, since it's here, I'll just kill it here!"

"I was wondering where that thing went..." Nepgear added. "I-I guess we can end it here..."

"Alright!" Uzume threw a Share Crystal up into the air and smashed it before it began to fall to the floor. As she did so, the energy inside enveloped her and she transformed into her HDD form.

Uzume—Orange Heart—materialized her megaphone and smirked at the monster. "Now it's time for our relationship to end! It's time we break up!"

"GROAH!"

The monster sprinted towards us and charged towards Uzume. Uzume readied herself.

The monster brought it's head mouth down to chomp down on Uzume. However, before the monster could bite her, Uzume kicked it's jaw up, knocking the monster back.

Following that up, Uzume formed an orange drill around her left arm, lunged towards the dinosaur and smashed it down onto the monster, drilling the monster to the floor.

The monster began pushing itself up. But Neptune thrusted her blade down into the monster's back, pinning it back to the ground.

The dinosaur swung it's tail towards Neptune. However, Nepgear came up and sliced the tail off in one swift movement.

As the large tail crashed to the floor, I dashed towards the monster and slashed at the nape of it's neck, cutting it's head clean off.

The dinosaur's body then fell to the ground and it's strength left it's body, a pool of blood slowly beginning to trickle from it's open neck. I let out a sigh. "I guess we did it..."

"Yay!" Uzume threw her arms around me and pressed her body close to mine, allowing me to feel a softness press against me. "Good job, Mr. Turtle!"

"H-Hey!" I fell to the ground from Uzume's sudden weight. "C'mon! Don't just do that!"

"Aww... But you feel like a teddy bear... Don't you like it?" Uzume asked as she sat on top of me.

I turned away from her as I felt my face become flushed. "I-It's not that... It's just that...um..."

"Hey, Uzume! Get off of him!" Neptune shouted as she pulled Uzume off of me.

"Awww... But I was having fun, Nepsy~" Uzume leaned close to my face, giggled and tapped my nose. "He looks so cute!"

"Here," Nepgear extended her hand out to me.

I nodded. "Thanks..."

While Nepgear helped me up, Uzume returned to her normal form. "S-Sorry, Tolise..."

I shook my head. "No, it's fine. Don't worry about it."

"Anyway," Neptune turned to Umio. "How about we head home and celebrate this fish's rescue and the Share Crystal?"

"Alright!" We all nodded and began our walk back towards Uzume's base.

* * *

"Everyone, cheers!" We all clinked our mugs together and swigged from our drinks, which were just mugs of juice.

We had returned home and decided to have a juice party. While doing so, Neptune, Nepgear and I explained our situation to Umio. Nepgear had also explained to Umio about the journal entries she had been finding.

"Ah!" Neptune set her empty mug down, feeling refreshed. "Man! This juice party was such a good idea!"

"I don't mind it... But why did you all have to choose to eat freshwater fish?" Umio asked as he stared at his cooked brothers and sisters in horror.

"Well, we only had fish reserves," Uzume stated. "Plus, that's what I'm best at cooking!"

Umio let out a sigh. "I understand that fish is the most available, nutritional food available, but this is practically cannibalism for me!"

"How about we get you some krill then?" Nepgear suggested.

Umio smiled towards Nepgear upon hearing her suggestion. "Yes, if that's possible. I'd appreciate that very much."

"So, Umio," Neptune turned her attention to Umio. "Can you tell us where we are?"

Umio nodded. "I believe you can. If you really were suddenly transported here, then you either came from another dimension, came from a faraway land, or you all are simply delusional."

I sighed. "Actually, all three of those options sound like they could be true..."

"I think we got transported to a different dimension," Neptune said.

"And why is that, Nepsy?" Umio asked.

"Well, it happened once, so I wouldn't be that surprised if it happened again..." Neptune explained.

"I see... If that's the case, then it's not so far-fetched..." Umio stated.

"Then, does that mean that all we have to do is find a way home?" I asked.

"Yes, but I'm not sure how you'll do it," Umio responded.

"We've done it before! We can do it again!" Neptune reassured Umio.

"Speaking of which, what's Uzume doing?" Umio asked. "She's been quite for a while now..."

"Hm?" I turned back to where Uzume had been to find her asleep. "Oh. Looks like she fell asleep."

"I see..." Umio smiled. "She did have a hard fight after all. I suppose you all should head off to bed as well."

"Oh, can we ask you a question first?" Neptune asked.

Umio nodded. "I'm listening..."

"Well, earlier today, Uzume went into a super happy, moe form of speech; she started acting like her HDD self," I explained.

"Yeah. Do you know what that was?" Neptune asked.

Umio sighed. "The answer is simple. Uzume is...trying too hard..."

"Huh?" We all stared at Umio we puzzled expression.

"You all have probably seen how Uzume acts in her HDD form; that personality is actually her true personality. The reason why she acts the way she does now is because of all the fighting, the need to lead us and being battle hardened. For some reason, I believe her need to lead has something to relate to her wanting to be cool..."

"Then what was that thing Uzume did when she daydreamed? Not only was it out of character, but her dream came true too," Nepgear added.

"Yes, that is a special ability Uzume has. If she can imagine it clearly, she can make her dreams come true," Umio explained. "That was probably what you all saw earlier today."

"I see..." I nodded at Umio's explanation.

"Well, I won't keep you all up," Umio let out a chuckle. "Go get a good night's rest and be ready for tomorrow."

"Okay."

We all nodded and headed off to sleep.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This is the chapter's end. There was a pretty obvious reference in this chapter that I put in just because. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Do you believe in cannibalism?**


	133. Chapter 133

Chapter 133

After a good night's rest, I had woken up to the sound of Neptune whining about not having any pudding. This also caused her to start kicking me around as a stress reliever. While Neptune did so, Uzume had another daydream; she hoped that there was an abandoned store to get the ingredients needed to make pudding: eggs, milk and sugar. So, the two of them had gone off to find pudding ingredients.

Miracously, they had found the ingredients, all one hundred percent fresh and organic. While Nepgear and I fumbled for logical answers to the convenient monsters that had been selling pudding ingredients, Uzume had begun making the pudding. Shortly after, we joined her while Neptune and Umio did whatever.

An hour had passed before we had finished, resulting in many custards of pudding.

"H-Hey, do you think we made too much?" Uzume asked as she stared at the many trays of pudding.

Nepgear and I shook our heads. "Considering it's Neptune, I don't think you even made enough..."

"Neptune really likes her pudding," Nepgear added. "She practically can't live without it..."

Uzume shrugged. "Oh well! Hopefully, it will be enough!"

We all picked up a tray and began to carry them out to the dining table. "Alright, Nepsy! The pudding is—What the hell!?"

"Oh, heya guys!" Neptune waved at us as she turned away from the two Babybugs she had been conversing with. "Woah! You guys sure made a lot!"

"N-Neptune, why did you bring those two Babybugs with you?" Nepgear asked worriedly.

Neptune shrugged. "I had some time to kill, so I went for a walk. Then I ran into these guys and invited them over for pudding!"

Uzume smiled. "That's good casue we might have made too much."

Neptune formed a wide grin. "When it comes to pudding, I have no limit!"

"Well, here ya go," the three of us set the trays down in front of Neptune, Umio and the Babybugs.

"Wow! It looks so good!" The Babybug stated.

"It smells so good too!" The other Babybug added.

"There's plenty to go around," I said happily before turning my attention to Neptune. "Neptune, that means you have to share, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah! I know!" Neptune claimed. "I know how to share with my friends!"

I sighed. "Sometimes, I'm not so sure..."

"Wait a moment," Umio suddenly spoke up as we all took our seats at the table, ready to eat the pudding. "Please, allow me to prepare my special blend of tea first."

I smiled. "I do like some tea from time to time. For being a fish, you're so classy. All you need now is a monocle and top hat."

Umio let out a chuckle. "Maybe someday... Anyways, I'll head off and go prepare my tea."

As Umio "swam" away, Neptune leaned her head against my shoulder. "Ughhh... Why do we have to drink tea? Why can't we drink, like, grape juice or pina coladas?"

"Because tea is good for the soul," I claimed. "It's not that bad."

Neptune shook her head. "I won't ever believe that! But at least it's still better than eggplants!"

"Neptune..." Nepgear turned to Uzume. "Um, Uzume?"

Uzume—who had been quietly resting her head on the palm of her hands—snapped from her trance and turned to Nepgear. "Hm? What's up, Gearsy?"

"Do you—by any chance—have sugar cubes?" Nepgear asked politely.

"Oh, do you mean those rock sugar cubes that you put into tea to make it taste sweeter?" Uzume questioned.

Nepgear nodded. "Yes."

"Sure, I got some," Uzume quickly jogged over to a nearby cabinet and returned, holding a small, transparent pouch containing several rock sugar cubes. "Here."

"Thank you," Nepgear took the pouch from Uzume's hands.

"Why do you need it though?" Uzume asked.

"Oh! I know" Neptune claimed. "You're going to crush them up and sprinkle them over the pudding to make it taste even better, right?"

"No, Neptune," Nepgear shook her head.

"Alright, the tea is ready," Umio announced as he returned, carrying a pot of boiling tea and a tray of plastic cups.

"Thanks," I nodded towards him as I helped him pour the tea. I set a cup in front of Neptune. "Here, try some."

Neptune stuck out her tongue. "I don't wanna!"

"Here," Nepgear took two sugar cubes and plopped them into Neptune's cup. "I think it shouldn't taste that bitter for you now..."

"Hmmm..." Neptune stared at the tea with a worried expression. After a minute of staring down the tea, Neptune let out a sigh. "Sure, I'll try it..."

She picked up her cup and, hesitatnly, took a sip from it. We all stared at her intently. After a second, Neptune formed a small smile and shrugged. "I guess it doesn't taste that bad. As long as I have sugar cubes in here."

"Oh well. I'll take it," I began to sip from my tea. "At least she drank it. But, really, this is really good tea."

"Yes," Nepgear turned to Umio. "How do you make this?"

Umio let out a chuckle. "I'd like to keep that a secret. I might tell you someday, but not today. I could make you some if you'd like."

Nepgear nodded. "Yes. I'd like that very much! I want to share some with Silver!"

"Hm?" Uzume set her cup down and swallowed her pudding. "Gearsy, who's this Silver person?'

"O-Oh... U-Um..." I watched as Nepgear fumbled for her words. "H-He's..um.."

"He's Nep Jr.'s boyfriend!' Neptune blurted out.

"N-Neptune!" Nepgear's face reddened and she turned to Neptune. "D-Don't say that!"

"What? I thought that was it," Neptune said. "You always talk about him when we're trying to sleep."

"N-Neptune!" Nepgear buried her face into her hands.

"Ah, I see," Uzume let out a giggle. "Good job, Gearsy! You got yourself a boyfriend!"

"Mmgh..." Nepgear rested her head onto the table and let out a groan.

"By the way," Uzume turned to Neptune. "Nepsy, don't you have a boyfriend?"

"Hrm?" Neptune looked up from the pudding she had been chomping through.

"Don't you have a boyfriend, Nepsy?" Uzume repeated.

"U-Um..." Neptune averted her eyes from the table and stared at the floor. "T-That's..."

"Wait, you don't have one, Nepsy?" Uzume questioned.

"N-No..." Neptune admitted. She then muttered under her breath, "Not yet anyways..."

"Oh well, I guess it doesn't matter," Uzume sighed. "Still, it's interesting that Gearsy's got a lover. Now I wanna meet him..."

"Uzume, we can discuss this later," Umio spoke up. "Right now, we have more important matters to discuss."

"Hm?" I turned to Umio. "What is it?"

"I may have discovered a way to put our plan into action and defeat that colossalis titan, Uzume," Umio claimed.

"Really?!" Uzume instantly snapped her attention to Umio.

Umio nodded. "I was talking to some Dogoos earlier. We've located a Share Crystal that may be big enough to execute our plan."

"Then what are we waiting for!? Let's go already!" Uzume shouted.

"Wait, what even is this plan that you guys made?" I wondered curiously.

"Oh yeah. I never told you guys, did I?" Uzume questioned.

"Allow me," Umio offered. "After fighting the giant many times, we discovered that it was weak against share energy. However, only a bit of share energy isn't enough to damage it. So, we devised a plan to defeat the giant."

"How so?" Nepgear asked.

"Simply, we use Uzume's ability to trap the giant in a field of energy to contain it. That way, it's powers will be weakened and we'd be able to fight it fairly," Umio explained. "The only catch of that plan is that it requires an abundance of share energy to do."

"I see..." Nepgear nodded. "Then, that's why you guys are always looking for Share Crystals, right?"

Umio nodded. "Correct. Now that you know this, I believe that this newly-located Share Crystal might have the required amount of shares we need to put our plan into action."

I rose from my seat and grinned. "Then I guess it's just like Uzume said! What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Umio released a sigh. "I suppose I cannot stop either of you," he looked over at Neptune and Nepgear. "Are you two fine with this?"

The two sisters nodded. "Yes!"

"Then let us be on our way," Umio said as he flopped off his chair.

I nodded to Umio. "Lead the way..."

* * *

We had ended up traveling to an area filled with sakura tress and green grass. The surprising thing about the area we were in was that it seemed to be one of the only lands in the dimension that still had living plants and trees.

"Wow, this place is so beautiful..." Neptune stared at the area around her in awe. "I didn't know a place like this still existed here..."

"Yes, it is one of the last places where there are living plants," Umio said. "That is most likely the reason for there being such a large amount of share energy residing here; it's because the life is still existent in this area. It's because this nation is so destroyed that areas like these are rare. Because of that destruction, this place is known as Zero Dimension."

"Then, if Uzume is the CPU of this nation, then why doesn't she have any shares?" Nepgear asked.

"The answer is quite simple," Umio said. "There are simply no people here, forcing us to rely on Share Crystals. I believe that the Share Crystals we've been finding are actually fragments of previous shares. The reason for why Uzume can't acquire share energy is because she hasn't been accepted yet.

"…" I looked over to see Uzume ball up a fist at Umio's explanation.

"Man, we should come back here again some time!" Neptune suddenly blurted out.

"H-Huh?" We all started over at Neptune, dumbfounded.

"N-Neptune, I don't think it's the time to be discussing such a random topic..." Nepgear advised. "We were having a pretty serious discussion..."

Neptune nodded. "I know! But sometimes there just has to be something happy and mellow to talk about to keep our spirits up! We can't just keep talking about depressing and dark stuff!"

"I guess that is one way of looking at things..." Umio admitted.

"Let's just worry about finding that Share Crystal!" Neptune said as she began to march ahead of us.

"…" We watched as she continued to walk. I shrugged. "Oh well. I'm going."

"Hey!" I heard Nepgear call out to me as they hurried up to catch up.

After a bit more walking, we had begun searching for the Share Crystal. We had all split up and went to look around. A while later, we had regrouped back together.

"No luck on my side," Uzume admitted. "How about you guys?"

Nepgear shook her head. "No..."

"Nothing on my end," Umio said.

"Couldn't find a damn thing," I confessed.

Neptune collapsed to the ground. "I-I can't do it anymore... S-So...tired..."

I let out a chuckle. "That's probably her way of saying no..."

"Let's take a break," Umio suggested. "We don't have to push ourselves..."

Uzume shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

We all sat on the ground in a circle.

"Man, I really wish I could see the two of you transform," Uzume confessed to Neptune and Nepgear.

"But we can't," Nepgear said. "We don't have any shares here."

"Then use my Share Crystals," Uzume offered one to Nepgear.

Nepgear shook her head. "No thank you. Besides, I'm pretty sure only you can use them..."

"That sucks," Uzume laid down onto the ground and stared up at the cherry blossoms swaying in the wind. "It'd be cool if we could all could get shares from the monsters..."

"Hm?" I suddenly turned my attention to Uzume.

Her voice slowly began to grow higher in pitch. "Then, I could see Nepsy's and Geary's totes adorable forms~!" Uzume continued. "Then we could defeat that giant and eat pudding all day long!"

I just stared at Uzume, trying to comprehend what had just happened. "Well... at least it's a good wish..."

Umio let out a sigh and smiled. "I do hope your dream comes true, Uzume."

"H-Huh?" Uzume turned and stared at Umio with a shocked expression. "What do you me—"

"Uzume, your language," Umio quickly pointed out.

"O-Oh!" At Umio's words, Uzume quickly coughed her voice and personality back to what it had been before. "Y-Yeah... I hope it happens too..."

"Hey, Neptune," I shook at Neptune, who had her face buried into the ground.

"Whaaaat...?" Neptune rolled onto her back and looked up at me.

"Get up," I said.

"Why? I wanna nap..." Neptune whined.

Nepgear sighed. "I guess you did spend too much time with Plutia..."

"Uzume!"

"Hm?" We turned our heads to see the voice's source was a Dogoo with bushy eyebrows.

"Oh, hey, Goobs!" Uzume pushed herself to her feet and ran towards the Dogoo. "What's up?"

"It's good to see you, Uzume!" The Dogoo—Goobs—said. "Anyway, we think we found the Share Crystal you were looking for!"

"Really!?" Uzume stared at Goobs with intent eyes. "Can you lead us there?"

Goobs nodded. "Of course!"

Uzume turned back to the rest of us. "Come on, guys! Let's go get that Share Crystal!"

At Uzume's calling, we all scrambled to our feet and followed after Goobs...

* * *

"There it is!" Upon seeing the Share Crystal, Uzume bolted towards it. We quickly ran to catch up to her. "Oh, man! This thing really is huge!"

I stared at the Share Crystal; it was the size of a head. "It really is big..."

Uzume turned back to Goobs. "Thanks, Goobs! Now, with this, we can finally put our plan to action and defeat the giant!"

"I'm afraid I cannot allow that..."

As an unfamiliar, female voice said something, an energized arrow suddenly pierced the Share Crystal, shattering it into millions of shards. Before it's energy could go anywhere, the energized arrow vaporized the share energy.

"DAMNIT!" Uzume cursed loudly and kicked at the arrow, shattering it. "Who the hell just did that!?"

I sighed. "And just when things were starting to look good for once..."

Suddenly, the ground beneath us began to rumble as the giant crashed to a landing. "ROOAAR!"

"Really!? Now of all times?!" Uzume glared up at the giant. "Great! This is just great!"

"Dang it!" Neptune snarled. "I didn't even get to see how big it was! C'mon! Whoever it was, show yourself right now!"

"That is a wish I can grant..." The voice announced as a shadowy figure appeared standing on a tree branch.

"Stop cloaking yourself and face us like a man!' I shouted.

"Alright, not like it matters anyways," the person stepped away from the trees shadows and revealed to be a gothic woman.

The person resembled a person named Arfoire, someone Silver had told me about when he had returned home. However, although her skin tone, facial features and hair remained the same, her attire was different.

She wore a black witch hat with a lilac flower at it's base. At her upper body, she wore a black cloak, cut-off, torn sleeves of matching color—with gold and purple hems and matching boots, also containing purple and gold hems.

She also wore a skin-tight black outfit, revealing part of her bare upper half. The upper half of the outfit covered her breasts and there was an open belly area where there were straps over them. Her lower half basically consisted of skin-tight black leggings with gold designs. Also, at her pelvic area, she here an oversized ringed belt.

"ARFOIRE!?" Nepgear and Neptune's jaws gaped when they saw Arfoire.

"Do you know this hag?" Uzume asked.

Neptune formed a wide grin. "Allow me to explain. To all the readers here who didn't bother playing the games, watch the anime, read the other chapters or read other fanfictions!"

Neptune cleared her throat. "Arfoire is basically a lady who has been in just about every game; she's been in the anime, the previous arc and in the mangas! She's a boring and old hag!"

"Silence!" Arfoire turned up to the giant. "Dark CPU! Wreak havoc on these wretches!"

"NRAAAAH!"

At Arfoire's command, the giant shot down several blasts down towards us.

Uzume stared at the energy blast heading towards Goobs. "Goobs! Move!"

"Ahhh!"

Before the blast could hit Goobs, I sped towards him, filled my blade with energy and batted the blast away.

"AHHH!"

I turned to my right to see several Dogoos get blasted away. I glared up at the giant.

"Keep destroying, Dark Purple!" Arfoire commanded.

"Hey! Nepsy, Gearsy, Tolise! Take everyone and run!" Uzume shouted towards us. "I'll hold that thing off as long as I can!"

"No!" Neptune shouted. "You can't win! You're going to die!"

"But we don't have the Share Crystal anymore! You guys should save yourselves!" Uzume pleaded.

"It doesn't matter! We'll fight to the end with you!" I shouted back.

Neptune, Nepgear and I stepped towards Uzume's side. "We'll stick by your side!"

"H-Huh? W-What is this...?" Uzume stared at her body as a white energy began to emit from her. "Is this..."

"Neptune...this is share energy!" Nepgear turned to her sister.

"B-But how...?" Uzume wondered.

"Wait," I turned to the monsters. "Could it be...?"

"It doesn't matter!" Neptune formed a wide grin and returned Nepgear's look. "You ready, Nepgear?"

The two sisters nodded and were enveloped by a white light. Emerging from that light were Neptune and Nepgear in their HDD forms—CPU Purple Heart and CPU Candidate Purple Sister.

"Purple Heart has arrived," Neptune announced as she materialized her blade.

"So has Purple Sister!" Nepgear did the same.

"W-Wait! You two were CPUS!?" Arfoire stared in disbelief at Neptune and Nepgear's transformation.

I turned to Uzume. "Hey, do you think you could do that plan now?"

Uzume nodded and activated her HDD form. "Now it's time to beat up this giant!"

"Sharing Field, activate!" The circular device on Uzume's left arm began to spin and cast an orange energy. The energy then quickly expanded throughout the area and enveloped all of us, besides the Dogoos. It created a space filled with broken platforms and was located in a spacial void.

"Woah..." I started at the space we stood in with awe.

"Uzume, was this your plan?" Neptune asked.

"Yeppy!" Uzume nodded. "Now we can defeat this giant!"

"W-Wait! Why can't I draw my power!?" Arfoire glared at us. "Dark Purple! Kill them!"

"ROAAAAR!" Dark Purple floated down in front of us and let out a roar.

"This place is made up of share energy, so you all should have the advantage here," Umio explained. "Do your best..."

"Right!" We all nodded and turned back to face Dark Purple.

We materialized our weapons. "Time for you to die!"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This concludes this week's chapters! Next week, however, I will start doing three chapters a week again. This is mainly due to me trying to manage writing, school and work. The upload schedule will also be changed to uploads being on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I hope you all can understand why I'm doing this. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Would you want to change one thing in your life forever or let life play out how it's meant to be?**


	134. Chapter 134

Chapter 134

"Destroy them, Dark Purple!" Arfoire commanded.

"ROOOOAAAR!"

As the Dark CPU let out a roar, Arfoire floated up into the air. "Know your place in this world, you maggots!"

I smirked. "I don't want to hear this from some old hag!"

I tightened the grip on my blade and took a stance. "Everyone, go!"

At my words, we all rushed towards the other platforms.

"RAAAAH!"

While I dashed towards one direction, the Dark CPU brought it's fist down upon me.

I quickly stopped in my tracks as the fist slammed down right in front of me. Following that, the fist swept towards me.

I quickly jumped over it, only to be met by the sight of it's other hand.

Before the Dark CPU could grab me, a beam of energy blasted the hand away, causing the Dark CPU to stumble back.

I landed back onto the ground and quickly looked towards where the beam had come from; it was Nepgear.

I nodded towards her before speeding towards my position. I arrived at my platform; the four of us were now surrounding the Dark CPU by it's corners.

"GRAAAH!"

The Dark CPU turned it's head towards Uzume and sweeped at her platform with it's left arm. As Uzume jumped into the air, the Dark CPU used her free arm and swung a punch towards her.

Uzume quickly kicked at the oncoming fist, knocking the fist back and causing Uzume to bounce higher into the air. Following that, Uzume took her megaphone and shouted a loud sonic wave at it, blasting the Dark CPU back.

While the Dark CPU stumbled back, I turned to Neptune and Nepgear. "You two! Let's go! Aim for it's arms!"

The girls nodded and charged towards the Dark CPU. "Right!"

I joined them in their assault, materializing platforms as I jumped. "Get ready!"

The three of us approached the Dark CPU, aiming for it's arms. Noticing us, the Dark CPU swung it's right arm towards Neptune and Nepgear.

The two of them evaded the attack and drove their blades deep into the Dark CPU's arm.

"RAAAH!"

The Dark CPU recoiled back and threw Neptune and Nepgear—along with their weapons—off it's right arm.

"Got you!"

While the Dark CPU had been busy with Neptune and Nepgear, I had engulfed my blade with energy. As I lunged towards it, I increased my speed.

I lunged towards the Dark CPU and slashed down at the Dark CPU's left arm. The blade sliced cleanly through the arm, as if it were butter.

"GROAAAAH!"

As the arm was chopped off, the Dark CPU let out a loud roar of pain, we were all blasted back onto our platforms.

I hurriedly foced myself to recover from being blown away and landed back onto the platform on my feet.

The Dark CPU then glared down at me. I locked eyes with it and took a stance.

However, instead of charging towards me, it flew high into the air.

"What the...?" We all stared up at the Dark CPU with confused expressions, wondering what it was going to do.

It then held out it's wounded, remaining arm. As it did so, a dark energy began to stockpile into the shape of a ball, hovering over it's palm. We watched in horror as the ball grew bigger and bigger.

"What the hell is that!?" I shouted.

"It's totally ugly and creepy!" Uzume shrieked.

"Whatever that thing is, prepare yourselves for it!" Neptune commanded.

We followed Neptune's instructions and each took a stance, bracing ourselves for what was about to come down.

"GRAAAH!"

Once the ball of dark energy was about the size of a planet, the Dark CPU threw it down towards us; we watched as it slower grew closer, allowing us to feel it's intensity.

"Wait..." I turned to the Uzume, Neptune and Nepgear. "Hey! Help me knock that blast back towards the Dark CPU!"

"WHAT!?" The girls all turned to me with surprised expressions while the planet-sized blast continued to approach us.

"I know it sounds crazy, but if we can knock that thing back, then there's a chance that we could deal massive damage to it!" I explained.

Neptune nodded. "He's right! Quickly!"

I returned her nod and looked back towards the oncoming blast; it's heat caused us to sweat.

"Here I go!"

I focused seventy-five percent of my energy into my fists and the rest into my feet. The immense feeling of strength filled my body and I lunged towards the blast. "HRAH!"

I collided my fist against the blast. Instantly, I felt a searing pain begin to flow through my body, as if I was being burned alive. "RAHHH!"

Enduring the pain, I continued to push against the blast.

While I continued to push against the blast, I felt a force push me forward. I glanced behind me to see Nepgear shooting a beam towards the blast. Following that, I felt another force push the blast back. Looking back down, I saw Uzume was blasting loud sonic waves at it.

I felt one more force push against the blast. I turned to my left to see Neptune driving her blade against it. I smiled at her and took her hand.

"H-Huh?" Neptune looked down at the hand I had taken. I watched as her cheeks became flushed. "T-Tolise..."

I smiled back at her and nodded. "Together..."

She nodded and squeezed my hand. "Alright..."

"HAAAAAA!"

The two of us summoned all of our strength and pressed against the blast with even greater force; the blast was slowly being pushed back.

"Damnit..." I gritted my teeth and focused all of my Devil's strength to my arms. I then pressed harder against the blast; my vision suddenly grew a crimson tint. **"HRAHHH!"**

Suddenly, the blast speeded back towards the Dark CPU and bounced both Neptune and I away from the blast. We were then caught by Uzume and Nepgear before we landed back to the platforms.

"Good job, you two!" Uzume complimented us.

I nodded. "Thanks..."

The Dark CPU was taken by surprised and was struck by it's own blast. "GRAHHHHH!"

The blast drove the Dark CPU further up into the air and blew up, creating smoke.

We watched as the Dark CPU fell out of the smoke. Parts of it's body were cracked, destroyed or nonexistent. I turned to Nepgear and Uzume. "Take out it's other arm!"

"Right!" The two of them launched towards the weakened Dark CPU, targeting it's remaining right arm.

"Haaa!"

Nepgear quickly zoomed in and flew by it's arm, slicing it off. The arm was cut cleanly off.

"GRAOOOH!"

The Dark CPU then let out a cry and rose back to it's feet.

"Oh no you don't!"

But before the Dark CPU could get back to it's feet, Uzume sped towards it's head and—filling her fist with an orange energy—smashed her fist into it's face.

The Dark CPU's helmet was shattered into pieces, revealing a pair of sharp, gleaming red eyes. As the helmet shattered, the Dark CPU fell back down.

"Everyone! Surround it!" I commanded as I hurried back over to my platform corner.

We all got on our own separate platforms and surrounded the Dark CPU again.

I materialized two javelins by my side and watched as Nepgear, Uzume and Neptune all materialized their own weapons.

"Now!"

As the Dark CPU reached our level, I jumped into the air. We all blasted our weapons towards the Dark CPU.

The javelins stabbed through the Dark CPU's gut, Nepgear blasted a beam at the Dark CPU, Uzume blasted a sonic wave that was so loud that it shot a beam out towards the Dark CPU, and Neptune shot out a barrage of swords at the Dark CPU, each one stabbing into it.

The Dark CPU was forced lower and lower until it was below us.

"Die!" I detonated the javelins and they blew up, vaporizing the Dark CPU.

"GROAAAAH!"

The Dark CPU was swallowed up by the vaporizing explosion and, in a white flash, disappeared—leaving only a dark crystal floating in the air.

I turned to Uzume. "Hey, Uzume!"

"Uzume knows!" She responded as she charged towards the dark crystal and smashed it with her fist.

While the crystal shattered into billions of shards, I turned my attention up to Arfoire, who had been quietly watching our battle.

"I didn't forget about you, you old bitch!" I focused what energy I had left to my feet.

Before Arfoire could attempt to escape, I lunged up towards her and tackled her, sending us both sprawling to a plaform.

I forced myself to my feet. "Haaa...haaa..."

Suddenly, the Sharing field shattered and we were all returned back to the ground where the Dogoos were.

I watched as Uzume fell onto her bottom. "D-Did we do it?"

Neptune nodded. "Y-Yeah... We won..."

"Yay!" Uzume let out a happy squeal and turned to the us. "We finally beat that giant! Thank you so much, Nepsy, Gearsy and Mr. Turtle!"

"Y-Yeah..." I nodded as I recovered my breath.

"What about Arfoire?" Nepgear asked as she pointed towards Arfoire.

"Tch...!" Arfoire rose to her feet and glared at us as we slowly forced her back against a tree.

"What should we do with this old lady?" Uzume asked. "Oh! How about we make her cry with onions?"

Neptune sighed. "Actually, let's just capture and interrogate her for answers."

"Heh, like you'd be able to do that," Arfoire smirked. "None of you are in any condition to fight!"

"Yeah! But we have more people on our side!" Uzume stated as she and the Dogoo horde advanced closer to Arfoire.

"Rrgh..." Arfoire snarled. "Don't think this is the last you've seen of me! I'll have my revenge!"

Before any of us could give chase to Arfoire, she disappeared in a black smoke. When the smoke cleared, she was gone.

Neptune let out another sigh. "Honestly, I'm glad she ran away. We were honestly in no condition to battle her."

I sighed and collapsed to the ground. "Well, at least we defeated that damn giant..."

Turning my head, I watched as the girls reverted back to their original forms. As they did so, Neptune and Nepgear collapsed to the ground.

"M-My legs feel like jelly... I just want to...not fight for a few days..." Nepgear murmured.

Neptune nodded. "I'll agree with...you there... Nepgear... I'm too pooped..."

I forced myself to nod. "Y-Yeah..."

"HELL YEAH!" Uzume suddenly let out a cheer as she pumped her fist. "I finally smashed that stupid giant to pieces!"

"Wow, you're really happy aren't you?" I asked.

"Yeah..." Uzume nodded as she collapsed to the ground. "Umio, it's finally gone for good..."

Umio nodded as he approached us. "It is. Congratulations, Uzume, all of you..."

"Yeah..." Uzume forced herself to look towards Neptune, Nepgear and I. "From the bottom of my heart... Thank you. You guys stuck with us the whole way through this, and we won. It's all thanks to you..."

"Aw, shucks... What are friends for?" Neptune flashed Uzume a grin.

"Still, I thank you three..." Uzume returned Neptune's smile with her own.

"I think it's safe to say we can rest for a while, right, Umio?" I asked.

Umio nodded at my question. "Yes, you all deserve it..."

I let my body relax. "Finally..."

* * *

"Let's have a toast!" Neptune shouted as she raised her mug. "We did it guys!"

"Yeah!" We clinked our mugs and drank from our mugs—which was still filled with juice.

"Ah!" Neptune set her mug on the table and leaned back in her chair. "Nice, cold juice is just what Nep needs after a hard battle. That, and pudding!"

I nodded. "Yeah, you got that right..."

"Hm?" Nepgear glanced around her. "Hey, Umio. Where's Uzume?"

"I'm not quite sure myself..." Umio stated.

"Oh, she told me that she had gone up to the roof to take a shower!" Neptune stated. "She also said something about not letting Tolise go up there!"

I sighed. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Oh, Umio," Nepgear turned her attention back to Umio. "Do you know why we were suddenly able to gain share energy today? Share energy comes from humans, not monsters..."

"Yeah," Neptune nodded. "It just suddenly happened too..."

"Well... If I tell you, you must never tell this to Uzume..." Umio requested as he scanned his surroundings.

We nodded. "We won't."

"Okay," Umio sighed as he relaxed a bit. "Do you remember how I told you Uzume has an ability that allows her to turn her daydreams into reality if she can truly imagine it?"

Nepgear nodded. "So, does that mean..."

Umio nodded. "Yes. That was how you managed to acquire those pudding ingredients."

I stared at Umio. "So, that means that they were able to gain share energy from monsters because..."

Umio nodded. "Precisely. Uzume sincerely imagined it, and it happened."

"Wow! So it's like hacks!" Neptune formed a wide grin. "Can she wallbang or one tap someone?"

Umio nodded. "If she really does imagine it, then yes, she can..."

"Wow..." Nepgear sat there in awe.

"But it's thanks to you being there with her that it was all made possible," Umio claimed. "Thank you all so much..."

"It's no sweat!" Neptune said.

"Speaking of which, now that the giant is gone, we can focus on finding a way for you three to get home," Umio said.

The three of us bowed our heads at this. "Y-Yeah..."

* * *

An hour or so later, Uzume had joined us for the party. The party eventually ended and everyone had gone to sleep. However, Neptune and I were still awake.

We were sitting back-to-back on my bed. "Hey, Tolise..."

"Hm?" I glanced back towards Neptune. I couldn't see her face due to the lack of light.

"Y-Your...hand..." Neptune muttered something quietly underneath her breath.

I blinked, trying to recall what she had just said. "Could you say that again, Neptune?"

"Y-Your hand..." Neptune quietly repeated. "C-Can I hold it a-again...?"

I blinked blankly as I stared at the wall. It was the weirdest thing Neptune had said to me so far. "U-Um..."

"S-Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you..." Neptune apologized.

I shook my head. "N-No, it's not that..." I extended my left hand to her. "Here..."

Neptune smiled and took ahold of my hand with her's. She squeezed it and let out a breath. "Mmn..."

"N-Neptune?" While Neptune played with my hand, I looked back over. Again, I couldn't see her face.

"…" Neptune stopped moaning and I felt something soft press against the palm of my hand, similar to when she had suddenly kissed me. "Tolise..."

"Y-Yeah?" I felt the blood slowly rush to my cheeks.

Neptune giggled and I felt her arms wrap around my body. "Thank you..."

Even though I didn't know what she was thanking me for, I couldn't help but smile. "No problem..."

For a while, I allowed Neptune to embrace me quietly. When she pulled away, I noticed something. "Hey, Neptune?"

"What's up?" She questioned quietly.

"Where's Uzume?" I asked. "She's not in her bed..."

"Oh..." Neptune turned to Uzume's bed to find nobody there. "I don't know..."

"Do you think we should go look for her?" I asked.

"Yeah," Neptune said.

I rose from my bed and offered my hand to Neptune. She giggled and took it, allowing me to pull her up. "Okay, let's go find her..."

"She might be up on the roof taking a shower!" Neptune suggested.

I shuddered at the thought. "Don't remind me of that..."

Neptune let out another giggle. "I'm just kidding. C'mon, let's go!"

I nodded as I took her hand, and the two of us walked towards the roof.

I slipped my hand free from Neptune's grasp and creaked open the door. Nobody was showering, but Uzume was leaning over the railing.

Hearing the door creak open, Uzume turned back to see us. "Oh, you two are still up?"

"Yeah, what are you doing up here, Uzume?" I asked.

She shrugged and turned back to look down towards the city. "Just thinking..."

"Hey, Uzume," Neptune spoke up. "What are you going to do now?"

Uzume turned back to us once again, this time she wore a grin. "I'm gonna beat the shit outta that old hag!"

Neptune smiled at Uzume's response. "I figured you would... But I mean afterwards..."

Uzume blinked. "Oh, after... That's what you meant..."

"Do you not know?" Neptune asked.

Uzume shook her head. "No, I know. It's just I never thought I'd have a chance to think about that, y'know?"

"Then what are your plans for the future, Uzume?" I asked.

Uzume shrugged and looked back at the city, putting a hand onto the railing. "I want to make this place a great nation, with not just a thousand people, but a million. I want to create a fun nation with advanced technology like elevators, flying cars and sidewalks that walk themselves. I want to create a fun nation where you can play games online with multiple people at once..."

"Then just come home with us!" Neptune blurted out. "Everyone in Planeptune will love you there!"

Uzume shook her head. "Sorry, Nepsy, but I can't..."

"But...why...?" Neptune asked.

Uzume gave a dry smile. "Umio and I had a talk about this earlier. I decided that I couldn't leave this city and these monsters, my family. I can't leave the people I care about, y'know what I mean, Nepsy?"

Neptune nodded silently and bowed her head.

Uzume turned back to Neptune. "Hey, cheer up, Nepsy! We're gonna get you back home soon!"

Neptune looked back up at Uzume. "Y-Yeah...but—"

Uzume shook her head. "No buts. Besides, we'll see each other again, right?"

Neptune nodded and she formed a small smile. "Y-Yeah... You're right!"

Uzume grinned at Neptune's response. "That's the spirit! Now, how about we all head to bed?"

I nodded. "Yeah, you're probably getting tired too..."

Uzume let out a laugh. "Looks like ya caught me!"

At Uzume's last words, we all headed back downstairs to sleep...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This marks the end of this chapter! If case you haven't noticed, there won't be any filler in this arc. This is because I want to finish this arc as fast as possible. However, there will be filler sections occasionally in some of the chapters. Also, if you didn't know, the upload schedule has been changed. If you don't know what the new schedule is, look on my page. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Would you rather live in a world without technology or live in a futuristic world?**


	135. Chapter 135

Chapter 135

"Uugh..." Neptune buried her face into her pillow.

"Blehh..." Uzume did the same.

I stared at the both of them. "So, what's up with them?"

Nepgear stared at them worriedly. "I-I'm...not quite sure..."

"Oh my... You two, you cannot just roll around in bed all day," Umio said. "You have to get up and do something..."

"But I'm still tired from that giant fight..." Neptune whined.

"Still, you two could try to be more like your spirited selves," Umio advised.

"I don't think I could even force myself to do that..." Uzume claimed.

Two days had passed since we had defeated the giant. Since then, Neptune and Uzume had been doing nothing but sleeping. While they were sleeping themselves away, Nepgear and I chatted with each other, while Umio had scouted out the area for any new activity.

"Can we please just sleep?" Neptune asked. "I just want to sleep and eat pudding..."

Uzume nodded. "Yeah...me too..."

"Oh well..." Umio let out a sigh and turned his attention away from Neptune and Uzume. "Gearsy, would you like to accompany me somewhere?"

"Hm? You want to take me somewhere?" Nepgear questioned.

Umio nodded. "Yes. I believe you'll find it quite interesting."

"R-Really?" Nepgear stared at Umio with a curious expression. "Do you mind if Tolise comes with us?"

Umio smiled. "Not at all..."

Nepegar then spun her head to me. "Do you want to come?"

I shrugged. "I got nothing better to do..."

"Hold on a second!" Neptune suddenly shouted. "Y'all aren't goin' nowhere!"

"H-Huh? What's wrong, Neptune?" Nepgear asked.

Neptune glared at Umio and I. "I know what's going to happen! It's going to be like one of those R18 stories, and you two are going to do disgusting things with Nepgear!"

Uzume gasped. "Umio! I didn't know you were that type of person!"

"W-What the goodness!?" Nepgear stared between Umio and I. "R-Really?!"

I let out a sigh. "No, of course not. At least, I wasn't going to..."

Nepgear then turned to Umio. "T-Then..."

Umio chuckled. "Doing such a thing is something I wouldn't enjoy doing, honestly."

Nepgear let out a sigh. "Thank goodness..."

"Then where are you guys going?" Neptune asked.

"Well, yesterday, I was scouting around the town and found a building with some interesting tech in it," Umio explained. "I thought that Gearsy might be interested in it, considering her love for tech..."

"That explains a lot..." I muttered. "That really does sound like something that she would be interested in."

"So, after hearing my explanation, would you still like to go, Gearsy?" Umio asked once again.

Nepgear nodded. "Yes. I would very much like to."

Umio then turned to me. "And you, Tolise?"

I shrugged. "Sure. Beats sitting around all day doing nothing."

"Very well then," Umio then switched his attention to Neptune and Uzume. "And what about you two?"

Neptune nodded. "I'll go. I gotta make sure nothing bad happens to my kid sister. Plus, I got nothing better to do..."

Uzume also nodded in agreement. "Same here. I need some fresh air anyways..."

Umio smiled and nodded. "Alright then. Let us be on our way..."

* * *

"Wow, this place is so cool!" Nepgear stared at the building's interior with sparkling eyes.

"Man, this place is Nep Jr.'s heaven..." Neptune muttered.

"I never knew such a place like this existed in this city..." Uzume stated.

Umio nodded. "I never knew either, so I was amazed when I discovered this place..."

"It seems like it's in relatively good condition," I added.

The building we had entered was filled with many consoles, computers and devices. In the center of the room was a device—that seemed to be a teleporter—hooked up to the room's main computer.

Nepgear spun to Umio. "Do you mind if I investigate the main computer?"

Umio shook his fish head. "Do as you wish."

"Yay!" Nepgear formed a wide grin and ran towards the main computer.

She pulled out her N-Gear and hooked it up to the main computer. "Alright!"

"What do you think she's going to do?" Uzume asked Neptune.

Neptune shrugged. "When it comes to tech, I never know with my kid sister..."

"H-Huh?"

We looked between one another in confusion as a ringing sound echoed throughout the room.

"Oh! That's my N-Gear!" Nepgear stared at the N-Gear as it continued to ring. "But how...? I don't have any connection..."

"Don't sweat the small stuff!" Neptune said. "Who's it from?!"

Nepgear picked up her N-Gear and her eyes bulged. "I-It's from Histoire!"

"Histy!? Really!?" Neptune ran up to Nepgear and looked at the N-Gear's screen. "It really is!"

"B-But how?" Nepgear murmured.

"Hurry and answer the call!" Neptune said. "Histy will get super pissy if we don't answer quick enough!"

"R-Right!" Nepgear quickly pressed a button and answered the call.

A small, holographic image of Histoire casted over the N-Gear. "N-Nepgear, is that you?"

"Y-Yes! I'm here!" Nepgear answered. "We've been trying to reach you for days!"

"Is Neptune and Tolise with you?" Histoire asked.

"Howdy ho, Histy!" Neptune waved at Histoire.

"I'm here too," I stated as I ran up to the N-Gear's screen.

"Thank goodness..." Histoire let out a sigh. "You all scared me when you all suddenly disappeared. I'm glad to see you all alright."

"But how did we connect to you, Histoire?" Nepgear asked.

"Well, as long as you're connected to a terminal, I can contact you," Histoire explained. "That being said, I have confirmed that you three have been transported to another dimension."

We nodded. "Yeah..."

"Hm?" Histoire stared at us with a confused expression. "What's the matter? I thought you three would be more surprised..."

Neptune formed a wide grin. "Histy, you're just as slow as your specs! We already knew that!"

"R-Really?" Histoire stared at us with a shocked looked. "That's very surprising, especially coming from you, Neptune."

"Hey! I can be smart if I try!" Neptune shouted.

I chuckled. "Yeah right..."

"But how did you two figure this out on your own?" Histoire asked.

"We had some help," Nepgear stated.

Histoire cocked her head. "S-Some help? From whom?"

"N-No! Don't tell her, Nepgear!" Neptune pleaded. "It'll make me not look as smart!"

"C'mon, Nepsy!" Uzume and Umio walked up to the N-Gear. "Hey! I'm Uzume!"

"…" Histoire stared at Uzume with a nostalgic expression.

"Hm? What's up?" Uzume watched Histoire's expression.

"N-No, it's nothing," Histoire claimed. "It's just that you remind me of an old acquaintance."

"O-Oh..." Uzume smiled. "That's cool!"

"And you are?" Histoire turned her attention to Umio.

Umio nodded. "My name is Umio. Pleased to meet you..."

Histoire returned his words with a warm, welcoming smile. "Same to you. Have you been the one taking care of the three of them?"

Umio smiled. "It was mainly Uzume."

"I see..." Histoire sighed. "I hope they haven't been causing too much trouble for you..."

Umio chuckled. "It is quite alright. Their company is quite appreciated."

"Geez, hearing those two talk is like hearing two parents conversing with each other..." Neptune murmured. "It's almost as if we were their children..."

I smirked. "I wouldn't mind that to an extent..."

"Wait! So does that mean I'm part fish!?" Uzume wondered.

"Woah! That'd be totally awesome!" Neptune formed a wide grin.

"Right? I could eat all the crab, shrimp and fish that I want!" Uzume claimed.

"I-I...don't think it works like that..." Nepgear murmured.

"Anyways, since you two are in a different dimension, then I should be able to get you three home if there is a teleportation device in the vicinity," Histoire stated.

"Actually, we're connected to the computer that connects to the teleporter right now," Nepgear said.

Histoire smiled. "Then it should be no trouble getting you three home."

"B-But..." Nepgear glanced over at Uzume. "U-Uzume..."

Uzume formed a wide grin. "Don't worry about me, Gearsy. I had fun with you three while you were all here!"

"But we haven't defeated Arfoire yet..." I stated.

"Don't worry about it! You guys already helped me take down the giant!" Uzume said. "That purple hag will be nothing compared to me!"

"Y'know, earlier, I had hoped that we would quickly find a way home," Neptune said. "But now, I kinda don't wanna leave..."

I nodded. "Yeah, we can't leave you guys here..."

Uzume shook her head. "Seriously, don't worry about me! We promised that we would fight together until you found a way home!"

"Uzume..." Neptune stared at Uzume with a saddened expression.

"It's alright, really..." Uzume forced Nepgear, Neptune and I onto the teleportation device. "Seriously, if you guys keep talking like that, I might start crying or something..."

"Y-Yeah..." Neptune could only stare back at Uzume with a tear-stained face.

"Seeya guys later!" Uzume waved at us.

"Alright, I'll now activate the device..." Histoire announced.

"…"

However, after waiting for a minute, nothing happened.

"Hey, Histy," Neptune turned to face the holographic Histoire. "What's going on? Where are the flashy lights and explosions?"

"Hmm... I'm not quite sure..." Histoire bit her lip. "Nepgear, could you check the teleporter's main computer?"

"Sure," Nepgear dashed towards the computer and stopped in front of it. She then took off the panel below that covered the computer's circuitry and power. "O-Oh."

"What's wrong, Nepgear?" I asked.

"W-Well..." Nepgear turned back to us. "T-The computer might be broken..."

Histoire released a sigh. "I see... Then, unless that's fixed, then we cannot transfer you three back home..."

"It seems so..." I scratched my chin. "How about we try to fix it and then call you back, Histoire?" I suggested.

HIstoire nodded. "That seems to be our best option right now. I'll leave it to you all."

We nodded at Histoire's words.

Histoire then turned her attention to Umio. "Please make sure they don't get into too much trouble..."

Umio let out a laugh. "Trust me, I'll manage..."

"Thank you..." Histoire smiled at Umio. "All of you, contact me once you have solved out your issue."

At Histoire's final words, the holographic image of her disappeared.

"Well..." I turned back to Nepgear. "What do you suppose we do now?"

Nepgear, bewildered, pointed towards herself. "M-Me?!"

I nodded. "I don't see another Nepgear in this room."

"W-Well... I was just going to see if I could fix the console..." Nepgear admitted. "Is that alright?"

Uzume formed a wide grin. "Heck yeah! I want to see you fix that piece of junk, Gearsy!"

"I-I'll try my best..." Nepgear murmured as she stared into the computer's insides.

"What should we do?" Neptune asked.

Nepgear shrugged. "I'll be busy fixing the computer, so I guess you guys can do whatever you like until I'm done..."

Neptune formed a wide grin. "Alright! Leave it to my dependable cute, little sister!"

I sighed and turned to Neptune. "Aren't you supposed to be the one that's dependable?"

Neptune shrugged. "It doesn't matter!"

I shrugged and began to walk out towards the door. "Whatever. I'm gonna go for a walk..."

Before I could walk out to go for a stroll, I felt something tug against my sleeve. "Hm?"

I turned around to see Uzume clinging to my arm. "Hey, Uzume. What's up?"

Her face grew a bit of a blush and she stared down towards the floor. "C-Can...I come with you?"

I blinked before shrugging. "Um...sure. Why not?"

Uzume brought her head back up and grinned at me. "Thanks!"

I nodded. "Then let's go."

"Hold an effin' second!" Neptune called out to us, stopping the two of us in our tracks.

"H-Huh?" We both turned back to Neptune. "Nepsy, what's wrong?"

"I'm not letting you two leave without me!" Neptune said as she got up into our faces. "I have to make sure you two don't do anything NSFW!"

I cocked my head. "N-Neptune... What do you mean...?"

"Nepsy, what's wrong?" Uzume asked.

"I know what you're trying to pull!" Neptune said. "You two are gonna walk into some dark alleyway and start a nonexistent sex scene, aren't you!?"

"H-HUH!?" Uzume and I both grew flushed.

"Don't play dumb! I know that's what you were planning!" Neptune claimed.

"Neptune, I was just going for a walk," I stated. "Uzume insisted on coming. I didn't force her to come..."

Uzume nodded. "T-That's right! You don't need to worry, Nepsy!"

"Hmmm..." Neptune crossed her arms and glared at us. "Fine! But only if I get to come with you!"

I shrugged. "I don't mind if you come," I looked over at Uzume. "What about you?"

Uzume shrugged. "Nah, I don't mind either."

"Then it's settled! I'm coming with you to make sure this fanfiction stays rated Teen!" Neptune said.

I chuckled. "The way you're wording it, it makes it sound like this story will soon become rated Mature..." I stared at Neptune with a worried expression. "By the way, why do you care so much about what we do anyways? It doesn't concern you..."

At my question, Neptune's cheeks became flushed. "T-That's..."

"It doesn't matter. Let's just go for a walk!" Uzume said as she tugged on my arm.

"Hey! Don't tug on his arm!" Neptune barked as she latched onto my other arm and tugged on it.

While the two girls pulled on my arms, I sighed and looked over at Umio. "Umio, are you going to be alright on your own?"

Umio smiled before nodded. "Trust me. I can take care of myself."

I returned his nod. "Alright. See you later."

While Umio waved us goodbye, the two girls pulled me out of the door and out into the city...

* * *

"It's done!" Nepgear announced, startling us.

"R-Really!?" Uzume rose to her feet and ran over to look inside the computer. "Woah, it actually looks like it could work now..."

Soon after Neptune and Uzume had dragged me out of the building, the two of them had continued fighting over my attention for reasons I couldn't comprehend. Although I had a few guesses as to why, I didn't want to say them in case of making things awkward.

The whole walk had been Neptune and Uzume fighting over me, giving me little time to think. An hour or so later, we had returned to the building to find Nepgear still repairing the computer. So, we had all ended up falling asleep.

"So how'd it go, kid Nep?" Neptune asked.

"W-Well, I repaired it the best I could, but we're missing two things that are keeping the computer from functioning."

"What are we missing?" I asked.

"We're missing a power supply and something to properly power that..." Nepgear explained.

I nodded. "I see..."

"The problem with both of those variables is that there are extremely low chances of finding either one of them," Umio added.

Nepgear nodded. "Yeah..."

"It's alright! We'll find one!" Neptune said. "The supplying power part shouldn't be too difficult if we can just find the source! If we have a source, there should be a nearby device to supply the source, right?"

We all stared at Neptune with shock. "Neptune, you actually said something somewhat smart for once!"

Neptune puffed out her cheeks. "I can be intelligent if I try!"

"Nepsy is right though," Umio admitted. "If we can find the source, there should be something nearby to supply it."

"Alright, then let's get looking for one!" Neptune suggested.

We all nodded and headed out of the building.

* * *

We had spent the rest of the day searching for our required items. However, neither could be found. Along the way, Nepgear had gotten really depressed and had been ever since. Seeing that it was getting dark and we were making no progress, we had returned to base and slept until morning.

"Hey, Nepsy," Uzume turned to Neptune as she took a bite out of her pudding. "Do you know what's up with Gearsy?"

"Oh, so you noticed too?" Neptune questioned.

Uzume nodded. "Yeah. She seems kinda down in the dumps. You know what's wrong with her?"

"I'm not sure..." Neptune admitted as she stared towards Nepgear, who was sitting at the bottom of the stairs. "But, usually, if she's like that, she's sad about something..."

"Maybe..." Uzume glanced up to me. "What do you think, Tolise?"

"I'm not sure..." I confessed. "Either she's sad about not getting to see Silver or something else is bothering her..."

"How about we go ask her?" Neptune suggested.

Uzume nodded. "Yeah! Maybe we could cheer her up!"

The three of us walked over to Nepgear. She looked up at us. "O-Oh, hey. What's wrong?"

"You seem kinda down in the dumps, so we thought we'd come see you," Neptune said.

"What's the matter?" Uzume asked. "Is it because you haven't seen your boyfriend in a while?"

"Um, y-yeah," Nepgear claimed. "Just a bit sad about that..." She let out a dry laugh. "Listen, I just remembered there's something I have to do. Could you excuse me?"

We cleared away for Nepgear and she bolted for the door. We watched as she left.

I shook my head. "Yeah, something is definitely wrong with her, and it's not about Silver either."

Neptune nodded. "I don't know what's wrong, but I hope we can cheer her up..."

"What's wrong?" Umio asked as he came out into the main room.

"We were trying to think up ways to cheer up Gearsy," Uzume said.

"Then how about taking her someplace fun?" Umio suggested.

"Oh! How about an arcade then?" Neptune suggested.

Uzume formed a grin. "That does sound like fun! Let's do that!"

"Yeah!" Neptune nodded and we followed her out the door to tell Nepgear...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here's the end of the chapter! I'm not really a fan of this new upload schedule because I'm just trying this out. Would you rather have this upload schedule or the old one with uploads on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays? Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **If your friend was sad, would you try to help them out or let them deal with it on their own?**


	136. Chapter 136

Chapter 136

"S-So where are we going again?" Nepgear asked.

"We're going to go have some fun at the arcade!" Neptune said as we marched behind Uzume.

After we had found Nepgear, we had forced her to come with us to a nearby arcade that Uzume knew of. Before we had gone, we had brought Umio with us just to make sure we didn't do anything stupid.

"B-But shouldn't we be worrying about fixing the terminal?" Nepgear questioned.

"Well, we can't fix it if you're down in the dumps, kid sis!" Neptune said.

"Yeah! So we're going to an arcade! There's no need to rush things! That giant is dead, so we don't need to be worrying!" Uzume added. "I hope they have a crane machine with super cute plushies in it~!"

I ignored Uzume's personality shift and turned to face Nepgear. "We just don't want to see you down. Even if you don't wanna talk about it, we still want to help."

"Here it is!" Uzume pulled open the door to an arcade building.

It was similar to some of the arcades in Planeptune, housing many rows of machines. However, some of the screens were shattered, and others didn't seem to function.

"Damnit..." Uzume let out a sigh as she mashed at the power button on the machine.

"I guess none of these work, huh?" I murmured.

"Dang it! I wanted to play Street Neppers..." Neptune puffed out her cheeks.

"Umio, do you know if there are any working arcades around?" Uzume asked.

Umio shook his head. "I'm afraid this one is the best in the city. All the others I've seen are more destroyed than this one..."

"Woah, you're such a knowledgeable fish!" Neptune commented.

"Well, if he can talk, then he's gotta be smart!" I added.

"But every monster in this dimension can talk..." Nepgear pointed out.

Umio let out a chuckle. "Actually, it's because I've searched every part of this city to find Share Crystals, so I know just about every place in the cities we go to."

"Still, it sucks that we can't play any games..." Uzume muttered.

"I think I can help with that!" A voice claimed.

We looked down to see a Babybug—the same Babybug who had helped us find Umio. "Hey! What are you doing here?" Uzume asked.

"I was getting some food and happened to run into you all," the Babybug explained. "I heard you wanted to play at an arcade. Well, I might be able to help with that!"

"Really!?" Uzume stared at the Babybug with a hopeful look. "You're not pulling my leg, are you?!"

The Babybug shook it's head. "I visited the Hell's Crest a while ago, and they let me play super fun arcade games!"

"Seriously?! Can you take us there!?" Uzume quickly asked.

The Babybug nodded. "Anything for you, Miss Uzume. Just follow me."

The Babybug began to scurry out of the room and we followed after it.

* * *

We walked for about several hours before reaching the next city. The Babybug then led us to a building that was in rather good condition.

"Alright! This is it!" The Babybug led us into a building.

The building was filled with many varieties of arcade machines. However, the building was also swarmed by many Dogoos.

"Hey, were these monsters here before too?" Uzume asked as she nodded towards the many Dogoos roaming around the room.

"H-Huh?" The Babybug turned to see the monsters. "T-These weren't here before..."

"Uzume! We're glad you're here!" A voice said.

We turned to see a monster resembling a Babybug. The only difference was that, instead of orange colors, there were green colors.

"I assume these are Hell's Crest?" I asked.

The creature nodded. "Yes. It's good to meet you three!"

"Getting back to the point, do you need some help taking out these monsters?" Nepgear asked.

The Hell's Crest nodded. "Yes. These monsters just suddenly appeared in here and we've been hiding out ever since."

"Don't worry! We'll take them out before you even blink!" Uzume said.

"Thank you so much, Miss Uzume!" The Hell's Crest thanked.

"It's no problem! You guys do find me lots of Share Crystals!" Uzume reassured the Hell's Crest. "I just have one request. Could we play in this arcade after we take out these monsters?"

The Hell's Crest nodded. "Yes! You can play as much as you want!"

Neptune formed a wide grin. "Then let's hurry and take out these monsters!"

I nodded and turned to Umio. "Make sure we don't do anything reckless."

Umio nodded. "I'll do my best."

I nodded and grinned. "Alright then!"

"Hey, we should do Rock-paper-scissors to see who gets first shot at the Dogoos!" Neptune suggested. "We'll all take turns taking out a portion of the Dogoos!"

I nodded. "Alright! We'll go in losing order. The first person to lose has to go first, and we'll go from there!"

Uzume formed a wide grin. "I like the sound of that!"

I turned to Nepgear for approval. "Do you want to do it?"

Nepgear nodded. "I'll do it."

We all gathered into a circle, ready to throw our signs. I looked between everyone. "Ready?"

They nodded. "One...two...three...shoot!"

We all threw out our signs and stared at them.

I had thrown out rock, Neptune and Uzume had both thrown out paper, and Nepgear had picked scissors. I nodded. "Alright, I guess I lose first and Nepgear gets to choose who loses next," I turned to Nepgear.

Nepgear shrugged and stared between Uzume and Neptune. "I guess I'll have Neptune next."

I smiled. "Alright. That makes the order me first, then Neptune, then Uzume and finally Nepgear."

The girls nodded and I cracked my knuckles. "Now then... Let's get this started..."

I took a step towards the Dogoos, catching their attention. As I did so, the girls stepped back.

"Nrahhh...!"

A horde of Dogoos began to bounce towards me. While they closed in on me, I let my Devil's energy surge through my body, filling it with an electrifying feeling.

Red sparks began to emit from my body. I materialized my blade and took a stance.

"NRAHHH!"

"Ha!"

The Dogoos all jumped into the air and down towards me. I tightened the grip on my blade and began slicing away at them.

As each one came down on me, I swung my blade at them, chopping them into chunks of jelly.

The Dogoos began to lunge at me faster, forcing me to increase my speed. I focused most of my energy to my limbs and sliced away at anything that came near me.

Eventually, the Dogoos stopped coming. However, I was covered in their jelly and a large puddle of their jelly laid at my feet.

I sighed and let the energy disappear from my body, dematerializing my blade in the process. "Well... now I really need to shower..."

I took off my jacket and used the inside part of it to wipe away the rest of the jelly on my body. After most of it had been wiped clean, I walked back over to Neptune and the others. "So, Neptune. You're up next."

Neptune frowned. "Yeah, yeah. But I don't want to get all slimy and stuff. If I do that, it'll be perfect for fanservice!"

I shrugged. "You lost at Rock-paper-scissors. I already defeated most of them anyways," I nodded towards the remaining Dogoos in the room. "There aren't that many left. You just have to take out a third of what's left."

Neptune let out a groan. "Fine..."

We watched as Neptune transformed into her HDD form and hovered over to the remaining Dogoos. "This is such a hassle..."

"Try not to get covered in gel!" I shouted towards Neptune.

Neptune shot me a dirty look before materializing her weapon. "I know..."

Right as Neptune turned back to the Dogoos, they all leaped towards her. "NRAHH!"

"There!"

Neptune performed a three-sixty slash, cutting through the Dogoos that had all leaped towards her.

Before another wave could lunge after her, Neptune rushed towards one side of the Dogoos. In a blinding light, a whole section of the Dogoos that had swarmed her laid in puddles of jelly.

The Dogoos turned their bodies towards Neptune while a purple energy filled her blade.

"Die!"

Neptune leaped up into the air and slammed her blade down into the center of the Dogoo horde.

As she slammed her blade into the many Dogoos, the Dogoos in the center were blown into millions of gel chunks. The energy in her blade then seeped out of her blade and formed an explosion.

The explosion expanded and caught all the Dogoos surrounding her in the explosion, vaporizing them. When the explosion faded away, Neptune stood in the center of her horde of Dogoos; she wore a frown on her face. However, unlike me, she wasn't covered in Dogoo jelly.

"Good job, Neptune!" Nepgear complimented her older sister as Neptune floated back over to our side.

"Thanks, Nepgear..." Neptune let out a sigh and reverted back to her HDD form.

"Alright! I guess I'm up next!" Uzume formed a wide grin and cracked her knuckles before walking over to another Dogoo horde. "It's time for you bastards to die!"

"Nraah!"

As Uzume approached the Dogoos, one of them leapt towards her. Uzume remained unphased as she grabbed the Dogoo and smashed it into the floor, blowing it up into millions of jelly chunks.

Uzume grinned and faced the Dogoo horde; they were all staring back at her with looks of bloodlust. "Sorry, but you guys can't win!"

"Nrahhhh...!"

The Dogoo horde all jumped for her.

As the Dogoos closed in on her, Uzume materilized her megaphone and shouted into it, blasting a sonic wave at the Dogoos.

Most of the Dogoos were then blown to chunks at the explosive sound of Uzume's megaphone, leaving only several stragglers to fend for themselves.

Uzume formed a wide grin and dashed towards the several remaining Dogoos, which were all grouped together.

Before the Dogoos had any time to react, Uzume put her megaphone right in front of the Dogoos and let out another shout.

The intense force instantly blew them to chunks and left Uzume as the winner. Uzume grinned widely and turned back to us. "How was that? Pretty cool, huh?"

Neptune nodded. "Yeah! That megaphone is so strong! It made them blow up in the first five seconds!"

"You defeated them so quickly," Nepgear added.

I shrugged. "It was pretty cool though. Especially how you blew up all those Dogoos at the same time."

Uzume's grin grew wider as she walked back over to us. "I know, right?"

"Well..." I turned to Nepgear. "Now it's your turn, Nepgear."

"R-Right..." Nepgear gave a timid nod and materialized her blade before walking briskly towards the last remaining horde of Dogoos.

"Hey, Tolise," Neptune turned to me. "Betcha Nep Jr. will get covered in a lot of jelly!"

I shrugged. "I get that your sister is pretty clumsy at times, but why would you want to bet on something like that?"

A wide grin stretched across Neptune's face. "Because we need fanservice in this story, you dummy! We have to give the viewers something if there aren't any sex chapters!"

I shook my head. "Let's just not talk about that anymore..."

I turned back to face Nepgear; she got into a stance and readied herself for the horde of Dogoos.

"…"

"Nrahhhh...!"

However, instead of charging at her, the Dogoos all fused together, creating one gigantic Dogoo.

"NRAHHHH!"

"W-What the goodness?!" Nepgear stared up at the giagantic Dogoo in horror.

I sighed. "Poor Nepgear..."

"You can do it, Gearsy!" Uzume shouted towards Nepgear.

Nepgear nodded timidly towards Uzume and turned back to face the massive Dogoo.

"NRAHHH!"

As the Dogoo leaped towards Nepgear, Nepgear transformed into her HDD form.

"HAAAAA!"

As the Dogoo came down on her, Nepgear leaped up towards the Dogoo and drove her blade into it, creating a blinding flash of light.

The light faded away Nepgear emerged through the Dogoo. Nepgear turned back to the Dogoo to see a large, gaping hole through it and landed back onto the floor, reverting back to her normal form.

The Dogoo then crashed to the floor and blew up, creating a jelly explosion that was equivalent to a nuclear bomb, except with jelly.

I sighed and looked to see the room, along with us, covered in jelly. "Hey, Neptune."

Neptune bowed her head. "Yeah?"

"You were wrong," I stated. "We all ended up covered in jelly..."

"Shut up..." Neptune muttered.

"Well, we cleaned up the monsters, but we now need to clean up the jelly," Uzume let out a groan. "This sucks..."

I smiled. "Don't worry. I can fix that."

Before the girls could question my statement, I used a bit of my Devil's remaining energy and commanded it to swallow the jelly, also casting a flash of red light.

As the red light disappeared, the jelly also disappeared from the room and our bodies. "There we go. All better."

"Woah!" Neptune stared down at her clothes. "The jelly's all gone! That's so awesome!"

"That's so cool!" Uzume stared at where the jelly had once been.

"Still, it's weird that the monsters in here were Dogoos," I stated as Nepgear walked back over to us.

"Whatever! It doesn't matter!" Neptune claimed.

"Oh, thank you all!" The Hell's Crest thanked us.

"Don't sweat it," Uzume reassured the Hell's Crest. "You guys all did help me gather Share Crystals."

"Then let us repay you by letting you play our arcade games!" The Hell's Crest said.

Uzume formed a wide grin. "Alright, sure! I can agree to that!"

* * *

"There you are, Nepgear," I found Umio with Nepgear; they were holding a conversation. "What were you guys talking about?"

Umio let out a chuckle. "Just some small talk. Right, Gearsy?"

Nepgear—who wore a bright smile—nodded. "Yup!"

I shrugged it off. "Alright."

After spending hours and hours playing arcade games, we had blown through most of the games in the arcade. At some point, Nepgear had disappeared, so I had gone to look for her while Neptune and Uzume continued to play. I had found her in the corner conversing with Umio.

"Hey, hey! Nep Jr.!" Neptune came running over to us, followed closely by Uzume. "How'd you get such a high score on that zombie shooter game?"

""H-Hey! Don't just tell Nepsy!" Uzume whined. "Gearsy, tell me too!"

"Oh, well all you have to do is hold the gun close to you and have a tight grip on it," Nepgear said.

"Thanks, Nepgear!" Neptune shined a bright smile to her sister.

"Ahhh!"

Suddenly, the building rumbled and there was an explosion that came from one of the back rooms. "W-What the hell!?"

"Miss Uzume!" The Hell's Crest scurried up to us. "There's a strong monster in the back!"

"I gotcha!" Uzume nodded. "Guys, let's go defeat that monster!"

The Hell's Crest watched as the five of us hurried to the back room. Standing there was a tall, slim robot with metal plating. "Wow. That thing is pretty cool..."

I materialized my blade. "Think we can take it out?"

"We should be careful," Nepgear advised. "It's made with a military-grade metal and probably uses the same AI. But it's model is really old, so it shouldn't be that bad."

I turned to Nepgear. "How did you figure that out from just looking at it!?"

Neptune shook her head before materializing her blade. "You just shouldn't try questioning it..."

"Enough talk! Let's take this thing out!" Uzume said as she materailized her megaphone.

"Uzume, you should still proceed with caution, as Gearsy suggested," Umio advised.

"Yeah, yeah! I got this!" Uzume stared down the robot.

I shrugged. "I don't know what you guys are waiting for."

"H-Hey!"

Without the girls' signal, I dashed towards the robot.

Locking onto me, the robot then turned it's right arm into a railgun and began spraying me down with bullets.

While I deflected the bullets, I transferred my energy to my feet and quickly jumped to the side, getting out of the railgun's range.

I recovered back to my feet and lunged towards it, slicing off it's right arm.

Sparks spewed out from the opened body part, and the robot, turning it's left arm into a sharp blade, slashed down at me.

The blow was quickly parried by Neptune, leaving the robot wide open.

Neptune took the opportunity, lunged towards the left arm and chopped it off, leaving the robot armless.

The robot then stepped back and produced a pair of cannons on it's back. The cannons then blasted two lasers at us.

Before the lasers struck us, Uzume stepped in front of us and blasted a sonic blast, deflecting the lasers.

As the robot recharged it's lasers, Nepgear jumped at the robot from behind and sliced off it's lasers cannons.

Just as the robot turned around, Nepgear quickly positioned herself and kicked the robot down.

The robot crashed to the floor and Neptune drove her blade into the robot's head, blowing it up.

"Woo! We did it!" Neptune hopped off the robot and flashed us a peace sign. "Good job!"

"Yay! Now I can look through it's parts!" Nepgear quickly ran to the robot and tore off it's plating, revealing it's circuitry.

"S-Should we stop her?" I asked.

Neptune shook her head. "Nah. Let her have her fun and be happy!"

Uzume nodded. "Yeah, it's the first time I've seen her so happy today."

"Oh!" Nepgear turned to us. "Everyone, come here!"

"Hm?" Umio followed us to Nepgear. "What is it, Gearsy?"

"Look!" Nepgear pulled out a glowing device hooked up to wires. "I found what we need to power the terminal! It's a power source attached to a battery!"

"Really!?" Neptune grinned. "Man, that's so plot convenient!"

"Man, we came here to play, but we also found our solution," I chuckled. "How amazing..."

"Quick, let's hurry and get to the terminal and power that baby up!" Uzume shouted.

"Right!" We all nodded and rushed back over to the building that housed the teleporter...

* * *

"Alright! Let's fire this thing up!" Uzume said as we entered the terminal room again.

"Here," Nepgear pulled out her N-Gear and connected it to the terminal. "I'll connect to Histoire so that we can tell her we're ready."

"Although it's great that we get to leave and all, I kinda don't want to go back," Neptune mumbled. "Once we get home, we'll have to go back to boring work and Histy's lectures..."

"I'll keep that in mind then," Histoire said as her holographic image appeared.

"H-Hey!" Neptune tensed up at Histoire's words. "I-I was just kidding, Histy!"

Histoire shook her head. "It doesn't matter. Nepgear, have you repaired the terminal yet?"

Nepgear nodded as she put the power source and supply into the terminal. "It's done!"

"Then get on the platform and we'll begin," Histoire said.

"A-Actually, Histoire..." Nepgear mummbled.

"Hm? What is it, Nepgear?" Histoire asked.

"C-Can we stay here for a bit longer?" Nepgear asked.

"W-What?!" Histoire stared at Nepgear, bewildered. "But if you don't come back, Planeptune might lose all of it's shares. You're Planeptune's last shine of hope! If you don't come back, I could never look at the prior CPUs again!"

"I-I know... But there are some things I haven't finished here yet," Nepgear turned to Uzume. "Uzume, I'll stay by your side and help you defeat Arfoire. Then you can come back and live with us!"

For a second, Uzume stared at Nepgear with a shocked expression. She then let out a sigh before smiling. "I see... So that's the thing that was bothering you..." Uzume shook her head. "Sorry, but I'm going to have to stay here."

"B-But, Uzume, there's isn't anything here. You'll be all lonely again!" Nepgear pointed out.

Uzume shook her head. "That's not true. I have Umio and the Babybugs to keep me company. Plus, you have people waiting for you back home."

I put a hand to Nepgear's shoulder. "Come on. We have to go..."

Nepgear nodded quietly as she bowed her head. "O-Okay..."

Histoire smiled sympathetically towards Nepgear. "I shall now initiate the teleporter."

Before the terminal could be activated, the building shook and we all crumpled to the floor. "Are we being attacked!?"

"Damnit!" Uzume scrambled to her feet and dashed out of the door.

"Hey, wait up!" I followed after her.

When we got outside, Arfoire was hovering in the air while monsters attacked the building. "Go, my monsters! Destroy their chance of escape!"

"Damnit! Why'd you have to show up now of all times!?" I glared at Arfoire.

"Ugh, but why does it have to be Arbore?" Neptune wondered as she and Nepgear got outside. "She's so lame..."

"Shut your mouth!" Arfoire barked. "I, Arfoire, Megadimension Destructor, will vanquish you all from existence!"

"Mmgh!" I quickly caught myself before I burst out laughing.

"Hahaha! That's the dumbest name ever!" Neptune blurted out. "Not only does that name sound stupid, but you used the word Destructor! You didn't even use something like Destroyer!'

"Well, at her age, it must be hard for someone like her to come up with a good name, let alone say it right," Uzume added.

"At her age, her outfit would be anything but appealing," Umio commented.

"Guys, stop," I said. "You're triggering her. She might accuse us off sexual harassment because she probably doesn't understand dad jokes."

"Shut your mouths!" Arfoire boomed. "That's it! Monsters, destroy them this instance!"

The waves of monsters all began to target us and close in. I turned to Uzume. "Hey! Let's get back in and barricade the building. Then we can teleport away before Arfoire destroys it!"

Uzume tisked. "I guess it's better than losing..."

We ran back into the building as I fended off the monster. As we reached the room, I quickly took the nearest item and barricaded the doorway with it. While the monsters banged against it, I took several more items and added it to the barricade.

"Alright!" I sped towards the teleportation platform. "Histoire! Hurry up!"

"Yes, I know," Histoire quickly turned to Neptune and Nepgear. "Please hurry and get onto the platform."

Nepgear stared at Uzume worriedly as she and Umio held the barricade. "B-But—"

"We gotta go, Nepgear," Neptune pulled her sister up with her to the platform.

As the two of them touched the platform, Uzume and Umio were blown back as Arfoire destroyed the barricade. "You brats won't leave here alive!"

"The teleportation has begun," Histoire announced.

A glowing energy beamed onto the teleportation platform and we watched in horror as Arfoire threw a blast at Uzume. "DIE!"

"Uzume, look out!" Suddenly, Nepgear lunged from the platform and tackled Uzume, evading the blast.

"Nepgear! NO!" We stared at Nepgear in horror as we were transported away, leaving Nepgear behind...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And that's all for this chapter, folks! Now, the next few chapters won't follow the exact the story of the game. It will tell about the adventures back in Hyper Dimension for a while instead of shifting back to the Zero Dimension. Also I uploaded this chapter earlier just because. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Have any of you ever played any of the _Street Fighter_ games?**


	137. Chapter 137

Chapter 137

 **Silver's POV**

"Oh, hey! IF!" Calling out to her, I ran to catch up to her.

"Hm?" IF turned back to see me just as I reached her. "Oh, hey, Silver. Are you heading to the Basilicom too?"

I nodded. "Yeah. But aren't you supposed to be working right now?"

IF shook her head. "Actually, Nep and Tolise just got home. Nep texted me to hurry and come over about some emergency."

I smiled. "I see... So Neptune and Tolise are back, huh?"

IF nodded. "Yeah, but apparently Gear got left behind."

I shrugged. "That's fine, I know she'll find a way back home. At least Neptune and Tolise got home safe."

"Yeah, I guess that's one way of looking at things," IF admitted. "Look, there's the Basilicom!"

I nodded as the Basilicom came to our view. "Let's hurry in before Neptune throws a fit..."

The two of us dashed into the Basilicom, and hurried to the elevator. I clicked the button to get to the proper floor and watched as the elevator slowly closed and began climbing up the floors, playing elevator jazz music.

"…"

"…"

A minute later, the elevator door opened and we sprinted into the living room to find Neptune and Tolise staring worriedly down at an unconscious Histoire.

IF let out a sigh. "What did you two do?"

"We think she malfunctioned," Tolise stated.

I shook my head. "Histoire really needs to stop pushing herself..."

"Do you know how we can get her back to normal?" Neptune asked.

IF shrugged. "I'm not sure. I called Compa earlier, so she should be here pretty soon."

"Hello!" The elevator dinged open and Compa walked into the room.

"Oh, hey, Compa!" IF smiled at her.

"It's Compa! Yay!" Neptune smiled brightly at Compa.

"Hi, Nep-Nep!" Compa waved at Neptune.

"Sorry to cut in, but do you think you can treat Histoire?" Tolise asked as he pointed down towards Histoire.

"Hmm..." Compa walked over to Histoire and stared at her. "I don't think she can be cured with any normal ways..."

Tolise let out a breath. "Shoot..."

"Wait, does she have a manual or anything?" Compa asked.

Neptune thought for a second. "Actually, I think she does have one!"

"Really!?" We stared at Neptune with surprised expressions.

Neptune nodded and ran into her room. A few seconds later, she returned carrying a small tablet device. "I'm pretty sure this is it. She always lectured and yabbered, and this thing eventually got into one of the lectures."

"Whatever, just open that thing up," IF instructed.

"Alright!" Neptune tapped the tablet's screen and it came alive, projecting a blue holographic window in front of us. "Let's see here..."

We watched as Neptune swiped through the many windows. "Remember, Neptune. We're looking for something to fix Histoire," IF reminded her.

"Well, maybe if she got better specs, she would be better," Neptune muttered.

"Just keep looking," I said.

"Oh, here it is!" Neptune stopped at a window. It was labelled: Help or Problem?

"This is the closest thing I've found so far, so let's just go with this one!" Neptune carelessly tapped on the window.

Another window popped up, asking a quuestion.

 **Has she overheated?**

I turned to Neptune and Tolise. "Did she overheat?"

Compa put a hand to Histoire's forehead. "She's really hot!"

I shrugged. "I guess that's a yes," I said before tapping the yes button.

"Oh, another one," Compa stared at the new question.

 **Is she unconscious?**

"U-Um..." We all stared at Histoire, who seemed unconscious. "She's not dead, r-right?"

"She's still breathing, so I think she's still alive," Tolise said. "I think..."

Compa tapped the yes button, only for a third question to appear. "Hmm..."

 **Did she try doing something above her specification?**

Neptune gulped. "Why is this manual being so strangely specific...?"

"It doesn't matter..." Tolise tapped the yes button.

As he tapped yes, a new window appeared. This time, it was a screen showing a solution.

 **Install the Sanshiro's Soulful Patch.**

 **She'll wake up with her will.**

We stared at the window with confusion. "Um... What's a Sanshiro's Soulful Patch?"

"Well, it's what we need to fix Histoire," Tolise stated.

"But...where would we even find it?" Neptune asked.

"You'll just have to do it the old fashion way," IF said. "Go out and look for it."

"But how!?" Neptune asked. "It could be anywhere!"

I sighed. "We'll find it, don't worry."

"Then you guys should get going," IF advised. "I'll stay behind with Compa and watch over the Basilicom. We have to make sure nothing bad happens."

I nodded and turned to Tolise. "You want to come with us?"

Tolise shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

Neptune formed a wide grin. "Okay! Boy team, let's go!"

We followed Neptune out of the door. "Oh, hey!"

As we exited the Basilicom, we saw Hikan, casually eating a Hot Pocket. He turned to us. "Oh, what's up, guys?"

"We're going to go fix Histy!" Neptune stated. "Do you want to join our Histy Fixer Party?"

Hikan shrugged. "I guess."

"Alright! Then let's go!" Neptune started off once again.

"Wait!" Hikan called after us.

"Hm?" We all turned back to him. "What's wrong?"

Hikan nodded towards the ground. "I dropped my Hot Pocket..."

Tolise groaned. "We'll buy you one later. This is an emergency!"

Hikan let out a sigh. "Fine..."

"But where should we start looking?" Neptune asked.

"Well, obviously, you should start in your nation, Neptune," Noire's voice advised.

"H-Huh? T-That Tsundere voice..." Neptune turned her head to her left to see Noire and Uni. "Yay! My gal pals are here! Now I won't be sandwiched by boys anymore!"

"Why are you two here?" I asked.

"IF called us and told us to come over and help," Noire stated. "She said it was some type of emergency..."

"I see..." Hikan smiled. "Well, the more the merrier!"

"Wait, how'd you two get here so fast though?" Tolise questioend.

Noire tensed up and her cheeks flushed. "T-That's..."

"Aww... Tsundere Noire came so fast because she was so happy to get to see me!" Neptune formed a wide grin and got up in Noire's face. "It's okay, you lonely loner! For now, you can have friends!"

Noire's eyebrow twitched and she glared at Neptune. "N-Neptune..."

"Oh well!" Neptune spun around and dashed off. "Smell ya later, Lonely Heart!"

The four of us watched as Noire and Neptune ran off. "We should probably chase after them," Hikan suggested.

Uni nodded. "Y-Yeah..."

* * *

"Get back here, Neptune!" Noire shouted as she ran through the streets, chasing after Neptune.

"A loner like you will never catch me!" Neptune shouted back.

The four of us weaved through the crowds of people, following after them.

"H-Huh?" A girl suddenly stopped in front of Noire's path.

"Crap!" Noire crashed into the girl and they were knocked to the ground. "S-Sorry..."

The girl shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. I got in your way while I was thinking..."

I examined the girl. She had pale skin, turqouise eyes, neatly trimmed black hair that stretched down to her back and she wore a red headband.

Her outfit consisted of a red sailor jacket with white higlights, a yellow bow—with four bow tails—that kept the jacket on and a red 'K' symbol at the the center of the bow. Underneath that, she wore a strapless dark minidress with a black belt.

She wore knee-high black socks—with white hems—and a pair of white ankle boots with red laces.

We all stopped in front of them as Neptune raced back over to Noire. "Good job, Noire! You hurt an innocent citizen! You should be ashamed of yourself!"

Noire rose to her feet. "Oh yeah!? You want to say that to my face!?"

Neptune shook her head. "What's the point? You can't fix stupid!"

Noire's face twisted into rage. "I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT FROM YOU OF ALL PEOPLE!"

"Whatever, let's just get back to our task and look for that item," Tolise said.

Neptune and Noire sighed. "Fine..."

We walked away and left the girl behind. I turned back to see her staring at us before quickly turning her face away. "…"

"Hey, how about we split up and start looking around Planeptune?" Noire suggested.

Tolise and I cocked our heads. "Why just Planeptune?" We asked.

"Well, Sanshiro was a famous Planeptune hero," Hikan explained. "So, logically, the item should be somewhere in Planeptune."

"I see..." I nodded. "Alright, then let's split into groups!"

"Okay!" Neptune latched herself onto Tolise. "I want the turtle!"

Hikan sighed. "Oh my..."

I shrugged. "Oh well," I looked over to Hikan. "I guess we'll go together."

Hikan nodded. "Sure."

I then turned to Noire and Uni. "That means you two will be your own group, is that okay?"

The two Lastation CPUs nodded.

"Alright, everyone, let's meet back here in an hour or so," I informed.

At my final words, we all split up into different directions...

* * *

 **Tolise's POV**

I had gone with Neptune. Since she didn't know exactly where to look, she had called up Blanc.

"So, Blanc, where do you think we'd fine this Sandman Skull Pack?" Neptune asked.

Blanc's holographic image sighed. "First of all, you would look in a place where old documents are stored. Second, it's called Sanshiro's Soulful Patch. Not whatever you just said."

"Yeah, yeah! Just tell me where to get it!" Neptune demanded.

"I'm not quite sure," Blanc stated. "I would recommend going through a library and looking thorugh their documents or just asking someone who seems smart..."

Neptune shrugged. "Okay! Thanks, Blanny!"

Blanc nodded before ending the call. Neptune turned to me. "Alright, Turtle! Where should we go look for a book at?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. How about at a librar—"

"Wait! I know!" Neptune smacked my lip, stopping my speech. She pointed towards a nearby convenience store. "How about we go find a book at that convenience store? It is convenient for a reason, after all!"

"…" I remained silent while my lips throbbed in pain, giving Neptune total control of where we went.

"I didn't hear a no, so let's go!" Neptune took my hand and dragged me into the convenience store.

Upon entering, I noticed two things that caught me by surprise. The first thing was that there was a slim, purple robot off in the corner. It appeared to be reading a doujin; I decided not to wonder what kind it was.

However, I did examine the robot. It was made with a slim, silver base body. Above that, it wore an exoskeleton suit with purple plating to hide the openings. It's overall base design was skinny, it had a large shuriken attached to it's left arm and a katana strapped to it's right arm.

To me, it seemed to be going for a ninja design.

There was also a tall woman with silver hair at the checkout.

She a spiky silver hair, fair skin and persian red eyes. Also, on her left ear, she wore a dangling silver earring with an emerald piece at it's center.

She wore a zip-up gray crop top with a fur nape area. At her torso, she wore a pair of black shorts with gold hems. Following that, she wore a pair of black and gold leggings, and a pair of black boots with a gold design.

At her pelvis, she wore a white split skirt with gold hemming, and it was held together by a brown belt with a purple gem piece at the center. She also wore a pair of brown and gold gloves and a black, holed sleeve on her right arm.

"Hm?" The woman turned to me. "Why are you staring at me?"

"O-Oh, s-sorry..." I quickly apologized and scurried to catch up to Neptune.

I found her staring at the comic book section. "Neptune, I don't think those comic books are going to tell us anything about that patch we're looking for..."

Neptune spun back to me and wagged her finger. "You silly goose! Look!"

"Hm?" She pointed towards a newspaper rack. "Yeah? Those are newpapers..."

"Yeah! And newspapers tell information!" Neptune claimed. "That means we'll be able to find something useful in there!"

I shook my head. "I don't think that's how it works..."

"Yeah-huh! Look!" Neptune grabbed one of the newspapers and shoved it in my face.

I examined the newspaper, reading the main article titles and skimming through the rest. "… There's nothing of worth here. Just something about climbing a Golden Summit and the world's end..."

Neptune sighed. "I guess you're right..."

"Still, I think we should buy this newspaper," I said.

Neptune stared at me with a puzzled expression. "Why? We can just throw it away..."

I shrugged. "I'd rather buy something if I've touched it. We can do whatever we want with the newspaper after we get out of here."

Neptune shrugged. "Sure, whatever! You're buying though!"

The clerk cashed us out and we walked out of the convenience store. After walking about a block away, I looked down at Neptune. "Alright, give me the newspaper. I'll throw it away in a trash can."

"Alright!" Neptune nodded and shoved the newspaper in my face. "I'll wait right here!"

I nodded and walked away, in search of a trash can. "Ah, there's one!"

I jogged up to a trashcan and held the newspaper over the trashcan. However, before I could let it go, a girl grabbed my hand and yanked it away from the trashcan. "Stop, Mister!"

I stared at the girl who had jerked my hand away.

Her hair was a fair tone, she had golden blonde hair in pigtails—wearing red hairbands, shaped in loops—tying them together and had indigo blue eyes. She also wore a small red cap with white accents.

She wore a sleeveless red dress with spiked hems. Above that, she wore a strapless orange piece with gold edges with a red pouch. What she wore on her feet were yellow, ankle-high socks under her red boots—which had a yellow, transparent top part. Also, she a pair of red gloves, orange bracers and skintight yellow sleeves.

"Hey, dude? Why are you looking at me?" The girl stared at me with a confused look. "Are you some sort of creep?"

I quickly shook my head. "N-No, sorry. I-I was just thinking about something..."

"Whatever," the girl shrugged and pointed towards the newspaper which was still in my hands. "Can I see that for a sec—"

"Hey! B-Sha!" The girl—who I now assumed to be B-Sha—and I turned to see a woman running up to us.

"Oh! Hey, C-Sha!" B-Sha ran up to the woman—who I assumed to be C-Sha. "What's up?"

C-Sha shrugged. "Not much. Just waiting for the others. Did you buy a newspaper yet?"

B-Sha shook her head and nodded towards my newspaper. "I couldn't buy one, and he had one, so..."

"Oh, I see," C-Sha walked over to me, smiling. "Hey there!"

I smiled back. "Hello."

I examined C-Sha. She had long brown hair that reached down to her back—tied in a short ponytail at the bottom. She wore a blue beret with gold lining and had a golden 'C' accessory clipped onto it. She had pale skin and dark gray eyes.

She wore an open, shoulderless blue jacket piece with gold accents and a black belt that had a gold buckle. Underneath that, she wore a white and black outfit which resembled a one piece swimsuit—which had a very lacey and revealing design to it, showing off her large bosom.

The bottom half of her consisted of a pair of brown leggings—with a black cross strap on her left thigh—leading down to a pair of blue high boots with black heels and gold accents. Lastly, she wore a pair gold bracers over her short black sleeves, which connected up to her middle finger, each tied to a gold ring.

"Hm? What are you staring at?" C-Sha asked. "Is there something on my face?"

"O-Oh, um...n-no..." I snapped back to the matter at hand. "S-Sorry. I was getting lost in thought..."

C-Sha smiled. "Hey, it's no sweat. I do have a question for you though."

"Hm?" I stared at her curiously. "I'm listening."

C-Sha nodded towards the newspaper I still held in my hand. "Would you mind if we took that newspaper off your hands?"

I shrugged and offered it to her. "Sure. I was about to throw it out anyways. Better to hand it off then to waste it."

"REALLY!?" B-Sha ran up to me. "Thanks, Mister!"

I nodded and they took the newspaper before running off. "I wonder why they wanted that newspaper so badly..."

* * *

 **Hikan's POV**

After being unable to find anything, Silver and I returned to the meeting point to find that everybody else couldn't find anything. So, we decided to call up Vert, who sent us coordinates to the first CPU's sacred land. Since Noire and Uni had decided to return home, that left Silver, Tolise, Neptune and I to search for Sanshiro's Soulful Patch.

After a bit of walking and hearing Tolise's story about his newspaper trip, we had arrived at the specified coordinates, at a mountain range.

"Welp," I turned back to the others. "What now?"

Silver shrugged. "I don't know..."

"Look!" Neptune pointed towards a part of the ground that seemed to have been refilled with dirt. "Maybe there's something in there!"

Tolise grinned. "Nice. Let's go dig it up!"

I nodded. "Yeah!"

"GROAAARGH!"

"Woah!"

As we approached the hole, an Ancient Dragon crashed down in front of us, letting out a roar.

Silver formed a grin. "It's been a while since I've fought one of these things..."

Tolise sighed. "Should we go for a quick and easy kill or make it suffer?"

I shuddered at Tolise's words. "Please don't say things like that again... It's reminding me of Ultra Dimension..."

"Whatever! Let's kick this party pooper out of here!" Neptune said as she activated her HDD form.

I nodded and also activated my HDD form. I turned to Silver and Tolise, both of them were enveloped in red lightning energy.

Silver let out a laugh as we all materialized our weapons. "I wouldn't just call this a fast kill! This would just be overkill!"

I shrugged. "Then why don't we all attack it with full power at the same time then?"

Tolise nodded. "I like that idea!"

"GROAAAGH!"

As the Ancient Dragon let out a roar, Neptune turned back to us. "Everyone! Spread out!"

We all did as Neptune instructed and spread ouselves around the Ancient Dragon. "Attack!"

"Rah!"

"Tah!"

"Hah!"

We all charged towards the Ancient Dragon, Tolise and Silver were the first to reach it.

As they did, their energy each took the forms of giant, winged samurais. They both drove their blades through the Ancinet Dragon, creating a blinding light.

"GROAAH!"

As the Ancient Dragon let out a cry, a fire dragon cloaked itself over me.

I boosted towards the Ancient Dragon and drove through it, burning it to a crisp.

Just as I turned back to see the Ancient Dragon begin to fall, Neptune filled her blade with purple energy, slowly extending her blade's length with energy.

In an instant, Neptune dashed towards the Ancient Dragon and sliced through it, creating another blinding light.

We all watched the Ancient Dragon as it blew up and shattered into millions of pieces. As it's pieces rolled around, Neptune and I reverted back to our normal forms while Silver and Tolise's energy faded away.

"Well, I think it may be dead..." Tolise murmured as he stared at the Ancient Dragon's corpse chunk.

Silver chuckled. "I know it's dead..."

"Quick! Let's dig up the hole!" Neptune rushed towards the hole and began digging away at the dirt.

I sighed. "Let's join her before she starts complaining."

Tolise nodded. "Yeah, she does that quite a bit..."

We ran over to her and began helping her dig away at the hole. After a few minutes of digging, we found a steel box buried in the hole.

"Look! A box!" Neptune turned to me. "Hikan, open the box!"

I nodded and, after bringing the box up to the ground, opened the box, finding dusty cartridges in it—one reading Sanshiro. I held it up to the others. "Think this is it?"

Neptune examined it. "It says Sanshrio, so that's probably it. It's the best we've got."

I sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I guess we should head back."

I got back to my feet and we all ran back to the Basilicom...

* * *

"Iffy, we found it!" Neptune shouted as we ran into Planeptune's living room.

"Really? Good job, Nep!" IF took the cartridge from Neptune and walked over to the unconscious Histy. "So... how do we put this thing in?"

"I don't know..." Silver stared at Histoire. "I can't find anywhere to put it in..."

Tolise shrugged. "What about her v—"

Before Tolise could finish his suggestion, I kicked his shin. "Don't you even suggest that!"

"Oh! I know!" Neptune turned to us. "Let's stick it in her mouth!"

"HUH!?" We all stared at Neptune with puzzled expressions.

"H-Her mouth!? There's no way!" I said.

"Don't know unless you try~!" Neptune said as she swiped the cartridge from IF and shoved it into Histy's mouth.

"H-Hey! Nep!"

Histy's eyes suddenly snapped open. **"Installing patch. Please wait..."**

"…" We all stared at Neptune with gaped mouths. "I-I can't believe that actually worked..."

Silver let out a sigh. "Whatever. I guess we just wait now..."

I let out a breath and flopped down onto the couch. "Yeah..."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here is this chapter's end! There will be a skip between this chapter and the next, which will shorten the story of Zero Dimension. That way, we can move onto the Gold Third story. Also, in case you didn't notice, I'm sticking to the previous week's schedule. This is only because of a certain reason, which will be explained on Friday. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Where do you all learn your news from?**


	138. Chapter 138

Chapter 138

While we waited for Histoire to install her patch, Neptune and Tolise told us about their adventure in Zero Dimension and about meeting Uzume.

"It was pretty fun!" Neptune said. "But it was kind of sad that we had to leave Uzume, and Nepgear had gotten left behind..."

Silver let out a chuckle. "Don't worry, I have faith in them. Plus, I have confidence in Nepgear. She'll be fine."

Tolise smiled. "I hope so..."

"That's great and all, but I care more about something else!" I grinned to Tolise. "I guess you can't just settle with one girl, can you?"

Tolise stared at me with a puzzled expression. "What are you talking about...?"

I turned to Neptune, who was blushing through her puffed cheeks. "Neptune, do you know what I mean?"

"…" Neptune simply stared at the floor as she blushed.

Silver let out a sigh. "Hikan, let it go. It's not right of us to touch on such personal matters anyways."

I lay back against the couch. "Yeah, but I like to talk about these things, y'know?"

Silver shook his head. "Well, I don't go around asking you questions about Blanc or whoever you're in love with, so you shouldn't do it to anyone else."

Before we could continue our conversation, Histoire began to ring. I turned to the others. "Do you guys know what's wrong with her?"

Compa shook her head. "Maybe she's cold?"

IF shrugged. "Not too sure myself. Maybe she's receiving a call while she's patching herself?"

"Whatever! I'll save the day!" Neptune ran up to Histoire. As she did, a new window popped up, displaying a caller ID and the option of whether or not to pick up the call. "Hey! It's from Nep Jr.!"

"Really!?" We all ran over to the screen Neptune was staring at. Sure enough, it was a window alerting us of an incoming call from Nepgear. Tolise nudged at Neptune's shoulder. "Quick, pick it up!"

"I'm already on it!" Neptune said as she clicked the button to answer the call.

As she tapped the button, a holographic image of Neptune and Uzume appeared. "Hey! What's up, Nepsy?"

Neptune formed a wide grin. "It's good to see you, Uzume! And you too, Nepgear!"

Nepgear smiled. "We're still doing okay, don't worry."

Neptune's grin turned into a confident one. "Of course you're surviving! After all, you are my kid sis!"

"Wait, is Histoire around?" Nepgear asked. "We need to talk to her..."

"She's in the middle of an update patch, so she can't talk right now," Neptune stated.

Nepgear nodded. "That's fine..."

"There is something that we have to tell you though," Uzume spoke up.

Neptune cocked her head. "Hm? What's up?"

"Well, we might have found a way home," Nepgear said.

"Really!?" Neptune stared at Nepgear with a look of disbelief. "No way!"

Nepgear nodded. "It's a weird story actually. After you had left, we had decided to head off to Uzume's main base—which is where we are at right now. But, we were followed and were about to be killed by Arfoire, when you came out of nowhere and saved us!"

"H-Huh?!" Neptune stared at Uzume with bewilderment. "But I've been here for as long as I can remember!"

I shrugged. "Maybe you're just being delussional..."

Turning to me, Neptune stuck her tongue out at me. "Bleh! Shut up!"

"Well, there is actually another you," Nepgear claimed. "See, we had gotten trapped by Arfoire and were about to be killed by her. But then, an older looking version of you came falling out of the sky and saved us. Because of her, we were able to defeat Arfoire and trap her away."

"Yay! Go me!" Neptune's face lit up. "So, what happened next?"

"Well, the older you said that she could travel between dimensions, but only if she had a certain person named Crostie in her book," Nepgear explained. "So now we're looking for her so that I can get home!"

Neptune let out a relieved sigh. "That's good to hear. But I wish I could see the older me. Is she with you guys right now?"

Nepgear shook her head. "No. She went out for a walk."

Neptune frowned. "Aww... I really wanted to see the bigger me. I guess next time..."

Nepgear bowed her head. "S-Sorry, sis..."

Neptune waved it off. "Don't worry about it! But, do you two want to see Silver?"

"S-Silver!?" Nepgear's quickly perked her head back up after hearing Silver's name.

"Oh! That's right! I haven't met him yet!" Uzume formed a wide grin. "I want to see him too!"

"Sure!" Neptune turned to Silver. "Hurry and get in the call before I call you a bad boyfriend!"

Silver let out a sigh as he displayed his face for Uzume and Nepgear to see. "Hey. What's up?"

"Silver!" Nepgear got closer to the screen. "It's been so lonely without you!"

Silver let out a sigh. "Don't worry, it'll all be over soon. Plus, I know you'll find a way."

Nepgear sniffled and wiped away the tears that had formed. "Y-Yeah..."

"Hey, I want to see him too!" Uzume pulled the screen to her face, allowing her to see our side. "Woah! He looks kinda badass!"

"Ahaha..." Silver scratched his head as he let out a dry laugh. "I'd use a word like emo..."

"Nep!" As IF got off a phone call, she called out to Neptune. "We gotta go do something."

"Oh, okay!" Neptune turned back to the screen. "Sorry, we're going to have to end the call here. Good luck, you two!"

The two nodded before Neptune ended the call. She then turned to face IF. "What's up?"

"We should go do a few quests," IF said. "If we do that, it could slow down the rate you're losing shares at. Plus, by the time we're done, the update should be finished by then."

"I gotcha!" Neptune sprung to her feet and followed IF out of the door.

* * *

 **Third Person POV**

Nepgear sucked in a fresh breath of air before turning to Uzume. "Are you sure you can do this?"

Uzume formed a wide grin as the Adult Neptune emerged from the tent. "Don't sweat it! Big Nepsy gave some of her Nep Bull V2! I practically bathed in that last night!"

"W-What!?" Nepgear turned to Adult Neptune. "Why did you let her have so much?!"

Adult Neptune let out a dry laugh. "Well, she really wanted it and wouldn't stop asking..."

Nepgear let out a sigh as she turned back to Uzume. "So that's why you smell a bit like medicine..."

"Sorry, but I had to," Uzume apologized.

Nepgear shook her head. "No, it's fine."

"Oh yeah," Adult Neptune scanned around the area. "Where's that talking fish and all the monsters? I'm surprised they're not here..."

Uzume nodded. "Yeah, it's weird that Umio isn't around, but I think he knows what he's doing. So, Gearsy, review what's going on!"

"Alright!" Nepgear nodded. "Arfoire had been unsealed from Neptune's Nep Note. After she took the power from another dimension's CPU from Croire, the Dark CPU revived. She then infused herself into it, giving her control of the Dark CPU. Currently, they are heading this way with a large horde of strong monsters!"

Uzume nodded. "That's the gist of it!"

"Then what's our plan?" Adult Neptune asked.

Nepgear nodded. "Right. Our plan is to simply distract the monsters so that we can give Uzume an opening to activate the Sharing Field, making it to where we don't have to deal wth the monsters and allowing us to focus on defeating the Dark CPU," Nepgear turned to Uzume. "Uzume, we'll distract the monsters while you hide in a building. Once the Dark CPU passes by, catch it off guard and actiavte the Sharing Field."

Uzume nodded. "Alright! I got it!"

Neptune drew her twin blades. "Then what are we waiting for?! Let's go!"

"Right!" The girls all began their journey to the final battle...

* * *

The girl stood in a building, staring down at the Dark CPU as it slowly approached.

Despite her situation, the girl smiled. _Nepsy, Gearsy, Tolise, Umio, everyone... Thank you for sticking by my side..._ The girl thought. _At some point, I think I realized I couldn't defeat this damn thing on my own; I began to doubt myself..._

The girl watched as the monsters were led away by two people, her allies. _But you guys stuck with me, until the very end. You helped me defeat the giant and regain my strength. So, please... Lend me that strength once more..._

* * *

"Hey, you damn hag!" Uzume jumped down from the building and activated her HDD form. "I'm gonna wash up that nasty face of yours!"

The Dark CPU could only stare at Arfoire, unable to react fast enough.

"Sharing Field, ACTIVATE!" The device on Uzume's arm began to spin and an orange energy began to envelope the Dark CPU.

"HA! YOU FOOL!" Arfoire spoke.

Before the orange energy could fully envelop her, Arfoire emitted a body of dark energy, shattering the Sharing Field's energy. "YOU REALLY THINK I'D LET YOU TRAP ME AGAIN!?

"N-No way..." Uzume stared up at the Dark CPU in abject horror. "B-But how..."

"YOU BRATS REALLY ARE DUMB!" Arfoire let out a laugh.

"N-No..." Uzume crumpled to her knees and stared down at the ground. "I-I'm...such a bad CPU..."

"Uzume!" Nepgear and Adult Neptune ran over to Uzume. "What happened?"

"I-I don't...know..." Tears poured down Uzume's face. "I-I...don't know what to do anymore..."

"Don't worry, Uzume," Umio's voice reassured her. "We're going to stick by your side..."

"H-Huh?" Uzume wiped away her tears and turned to her left to see Umio. "U-Umio..."

"Sorry, gathering all of them took longer than expected..." Umio apologized as the monster colony followed close behind him.

"B-But...I thought you evacuated..." Uzume said. "And what do you mean by gather?"

Umio smiled and turned back to the monsters, nodding to them. "Use them!"

At Umio's command, the monsters each held up a Share Crystal. Doing so, bright white lights began to emit from them and float into the sky.

"Each one of these monsters hold a Share Crystal," Umio answered as the girls watched the lights dance in the sky.

"So much share energy..." Uzume stared up at the sky in awe.

"What do you say, Uzume?" Nepgear asked. "Want to try again?"

"Yeah!" Uzume pushd herself back to her feet as she closed her eyes. "I know I can do this! I can feel everyone's feelings in my heart!"

"YOU CAN'T WIN!" Arfoire boomed. "JUST GIVE IT UP!"

An orange energy began to emit from Uzume, shining brightly. She raised her device. "Sharing Field, ACTIVATE!"

As the Sharing Field activated and orange energy began to envelope the Dark CPU, the balls of energy also joined the Sharing Field's energy.

"IT'S USELESS!" Arfoire shouted as the energy caved in on her. "GRAAAH!"

At Arfoire's booming roar, the share energy scattered, shattering the Sharing Field once again. "YOU CAN'T PREVAIL AGAINST ME!"

"E-Even with this many shares, we can't trap it?" Uzume sniffled.

"Then, let us lend you our aid," Histoire said as her holographic image suddenly popped up on Uzume's device.

"H-Histoire!" Nepgear looked at Histoire's holographic image.

"Heya, Nepgear!" Neptune appeared onto the screen. "We managed to fix Histy, and now she's better than ever!"

Histoire nodded. "Thanks to the patch, my specs have been improved. I can now transfer our shares over to you, Nepgear. Doing so should give you a better chance at successfully creating the Sharing Field."

Nepgear formed a bright grin. "Yay!"

"Alright. I shall now transfer the shares over to you, Nepgear," Histoire announced.

Nepgear nodded and a purple energy began to emit from Nepgear. Nepgear closed her eyes. "This feeling... It's the feeling of Planeptune's shares..."

Historie nodded. "Hopefully that's enough share energy to do it."

Nepgear nodded and took Uzume's hand. "Let's try it again!"

Uzume nodded. "Okay!"

"HAAAA!"

The Sharing Field device exploded in an orange and purple energy, slowly enveloping the Dark CPU. Arfoire emitted the dark energy again and pushed against the share energy. However, instead of shattering the Sharing Field's energy, the share energy slowly enveloped her.

"W-WHAT!?"

A bright light flashed and caught Arfoire in the Sharing Field. "N-NO! THIS CANNOT BE!"

Nepgear, Uzume, Umio and Adult Neptune all formed big grins. "We did it!"

Umio nodded. "True. But don't forget that you still have to defeat her."

"Thanks Nepsy!" Uzume thanked at Neptune's holographic image.

"I got another surprise for you too!" Neptune said.

"H-Huh? Another surprise?" Nepgear cocked her head.

A portal suddenly appeared and Neptune, Silver, Tolise and Hikan all landed into the Sharing Field. "Ta-da!"

"Woah! It's the little me!" Adult Neptune let out a giggle. "And there are boys..."

"Now, we can fight for real!" Tolise said.

Neptune nodded as she, Nepgear and Hikan activated their HDD forms. Everyone materialized their weapons. Neptune stared up at Arfoire, now the Dark CPU. "We'll end you once and for all, right here!"

"GROAAH! I'LL CRUSH YOU!" Arfoire roared.

The seven of them scattered across the platforms and took stances. Uzume tightened the grip on her megaphone. "Everyone! Go!"

Before any of them could charge at her, Arfoire flew up into the air and began forming a ball of dark energy. "I'LL END YOU ALL BEFORE YOU EVEN GET A CHANCE!"

"What's she doing?!" Adult Neptune asked.

Nepgear stared up in horror at the ball of dark energy as it slowly became bigger and bigger. "It's a really powerful blast! If it hits, we're done for!"

Tolise bit his lip. "I don't think doing the same thing as last time will work either. Arfoire is now the Dark CPU, so it can now think like a real person..."

"What will we do then?" Uzume asked.

Silver formed a wide grin. "Easy."

Hikan looked over at Silver. "You got something in mind?"

Silver nodded. "Yeah. But for this to work, I'll need you guys to provide me with backup."

Tolise nodded. "Whatever it is, we'll be glad to help!"

"Yeah!" The others chorused.

Silver nodded as he stared up at the planet-sized ball of dark energy. "Alright. Just make sure to not let anything interfere with this..."

As the others nodded, Silver closed his eyes and his Devils' energy began to flow through him, emitting flames.

"DIE!" Arfoire threw the gigantic blast of dark energy down at them.

"Hey! Silver said not to let anything interfere with him!" Hikan shouted. "Help me hold this thing at bay!"

"Right!" The girls all nodded as Hikan sped up towards the blast.

"HRAH!"

While the blast slowly came down towards them, Hikan drove his blade against the blast, slowing down it's progress down a little.

"Yah!"

"Rah!"

Neptune and Tolise joined Hikan and pushed against the blast with their blades, furthering it's progress. While they did that, Uzume, Nepgear and Adult Neptune all used their weapons and shot out lasers and sonic waves towards the blast.

"YOU FOOLS! DID YOU REALY THINK THAT THE SAME TATIC WOULD WORK TWICE!?" Arfoire boomed. "HOW GUILIBLE!"

Arfoire focused her dark energy into the palms of her hands and blasted out a beam of energy, smashing into the blast and adding onto it's force.

"Rgh!"

"I-It's...so strong..."

While the CPUs, Tolise and Adult Neptune pushed against the blast, the blast began to push them back down at a rapid pace.

"SILVER! HURRY UP!" Hikan shouted back towards him.

"It's ready!" Silver announced.

Silver formed a ball of red energy into his hands and, in an instant, it grew to a size equal to Arfoire's blast. "Alright! Get away from the blast!"

At Silver's words, everyone scattered away from the blast as Silver jumped towards the blast and collided his ball of energy with Arfoire's.

Upon collision, the Sharing Field began to quake and red and purple sparks began to shoot out from the colliding blasts.

 **"HRAHHHH!"**

Letting his Devils' take over him for a brief second, Silver applied more energy to his blast and pushed against Arfoire's blast.

"W-WHAT!?"

While Arfoire was taken back by Silver's sudden burst of power, Silver pushed against the blast and drove forward. Arfoire's blast was then destroyed, and Silver slammed his blast into the Dark CPU's abdomen. **"Go to hell!"**

As Silver let go of the blast and watched it drive Arfoire down the Sharing Field, he landed back onto one of the many platforms. "Everyone! Aim for it's wings!"

As Arfoire recovered from her injury, she jetted back up towards the group. Just as she got back onto the same plane as them, the seven of them all leaped towards her, aiming towards her wings.

Arfoire instantly slammed her arm into Silver and Tolise knocking them back onto the platforms.

While Arfoire retracted her arm, Hikan and Nepgear slashed towards the wings.

Arfoire instantly swiped at the two of them with her other hand, smashing both of them back onto platforms.

"You're mine!"

As Arfoire turned around, Adult Neptune quickly unholstered her pistol and shot at Arfoire.

In response, Arfoire shielded herself with her wings, deflecting the bullets.

Taking the opportunity, Adult Neptune threw one of her two blades at Arfoire wings.

Arfoire swatted the blade to her left, only to be met with the painful feeling of one of her wings being sliced off. "AGH!"

Before Arfoire had a chance to recover from the pain, Neptune lunged herself from Adult Neptune's blade and slashed at Arfoire other wing, cutting it off.

"GRAOOGH!"

Arfoire let out a loud cry, causing the two Neptunes to be pushed onto one of the platforms.

They watched as Arfoire fell to the bottom of the Sharing Field, crashing into the hard bottom. "DAMN YOU ALL!"

Silver and Tolise pushed themselves back to their feet. A second later, they both jumped towards Arfoire.

"I'LL KILL YOU TWO!"

"Yah!"

"Grah!"

As Arfoire jumped up to grab them, the two of them slowed down time and evaded to the side, avoiding her arms.

Just as they got out of the way, the two of them resumed time and slashed off both of Arfoire's arms, leaving only her legs, body and head.

"AAAGH!"

While Arfoire cried in pain, Silver grabbed Tolise and the two blinked back up to the platform where everyone stood.

"Good job!" Adult Neptune complimented them.

The two of them nodded, and Tolise turned to Uzume. "Uzume, you've been fighting this thing the longest, you should finish it off."

Uzume stared at Tolise with a surprised look. "M-Me?!"

Tolise smiled before nodding. "Well, of course! It is your nation to protect after all. We're just the backup!"

Uzume formed a bright smile before nodding. "Okay!"

As Uzume stepped to the edge of the platform and stared down at the helpless Arfoire, Uzume took a deep breath. "Okay!"

An orange energy exploded and radiated from Uzume. She then focused all of the intense energy to her fists and jumped down after Arfoire. "Uzume will win!"

Arforie glared up at Uzume. "NO! I'LL DESTROY THIS WORLD!"

While Uzume continued to approach Arfoire at an immense speed, Arfoire blasted a beam of dark energy at her.

"You're too slow, granny!" Uzume taunted her as she dodged to the side of the beam.

Before Arfoire could react, Uzume reached Arfoire and she smashed her fist against the Dark CPU's face.

Suddenly, as Arfoire was knocked down, the orange energy entered the Dark CPU's body. In an instant, the Dark CPU blew up into an orange light as Arfoire was slowly vaporized. "N-NOOOO!"

The orange energy released another explosion and blew Uzume back up to the platform. "D-Did...we do it...?"

"Yes, you did it, Uzume," Umio stated as he approached her. "It's finally over..."

"Y-Yay..." Uzume smiled before letting out a breath.

"Wow! I can't believe there's actually another me!" The Adult Neptune stared at her other self. "I'm so small!"

Neptune grinned as she reverted back to her normal form and stared at her older self. "Same! I'm so happy that, when I grow up, I actually develop more!"

"Hey, hey! Nepgear!" The Adult Neptune pointed to Silver. "Is that your boyfriend?"

Nepgear nodded as she also reverted back to her original form. "Y-Yes. T-That's him..."

The Adult Neptune stared at Silver with amazement. "Cool! I want a boyfriend too!"

Silver, Hikan and Tolise all exchanged worried glances. "I-I'm not sure about that..." Tolise murmured.

"Man, you really do look a lot like Neptune though," Tolise said. "If it weren't for your clothes or hair, I would've thought you were Neptune."

Adult Neptune giggled. "Aww~! Shucks!"

Silver nodded as he stared at the Adult Neptune. "Yeah, I agree..."

The Adult Neptune wore the same hoodie dress Neptune did. The only difference was that the white colors that Neptune wore on her hoodie had been replaced with black colors on the Adult Neptune's hoodie.

The Adult Neptune wore two black and blue D-pad hair clips, a black choker and a black bangle on her left wrist. Unlike Neptune, Adult Neptune didn't wear stockings, but she wore a black gun holster on her left thigh. Following that, Adult Neptune wore laceless black boots with purple accents.

To Tolise though, the main differences were that Adult Neptune's bosom was bigger than the original Neptune's, and her hair was longer than the original's.

"Hey! Are we going or not!?" A familiar voice asked.

"Hm?" Everyone looked up at the voice. Neptune gasped. "Hey! You're that Croire person!"

"Yeah, I am," Croire said. "And I don't care about that. I'm getting outta here."

"H-Hey! Crostie, wait up!" The Adult Neptune chased after Croire.

Hikan and Uzume reverted back to their original forms. As Uzume did so, she turned to Neptune and Nepgear. "Well, I guess this is actually goodbye, huh?"

The Planeptune CPUs nodded. "Are you sure you still don't want to come, Uzume?" Nepgear asked worriedly.

Uzume smiled. "I appreciate the offer, really. But this place, right here, is my nation. Sorry, but I'm staying..."

Nepgear sighed before smiling. "Alright, I can understand that. At least everything here has finally been resolved..."

Uzume nodded. "Yeah, so don't worry about me. You two just go home and have fun with your boyfriends!"

Neptune shook her head. "I thought we already talked about this! I don't have one, remember?"

Uzume glanced at Tolise before forming a wide grin. "I don't think your heart believes that, Nepsy..."

Neptune puffed out her cheeks. "Whatever!"

Uzume then turned to Tolise. "Hey, make sure you take care of Nepsy and Gearsy, ya hear me?"

Tolise nodded. "Yeah, I promise..."

Uzume let out a sigh. "Then I guess I'll see you guys next time, promise!"

The five of them smiled at Uzume and jumped into the portal before it disappeared. Uzume let out a sigh and let the Sharing Field crumble, crashing her to the ground, Umio at her side.

"Well... we did it, Umio..."

Umio let out a chuckle. "After all that pain, it's finally over... What do you plan to do now, Uzume?"

Uzume formed a wide grin before closing her eyes. "I want to create a nation great enough to rival Nepsy's."

"I see..."

Uzume turned her head to Umio as she opened her eyes. "Hey, Umio..."

"Yes, what is it?"

"Would you mind helping me rebuild this nation?" Uzume requested.

Umio let out a chuckle. "Uzume, I would follow you to the end of the world. I'll always be there for you..."

Uzume let out a laugh. "There's already a problem with that! This has always been the world's end!"

Umio sighed. "I guess so..."

"Doesn't matter though..." Uzume forced herself to her feet and stared up at the sky. "Time for a new start!"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This marks the end of this chapter and the Zero Dimension story! The next chapter will begin the Gold Third story. But once the Gold Third Story starts, there will be some changes. However, I will explain the changes that will occur on the next chapter. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Would you rather stay young for the rest of time or age normally?**


	139. Chapter 139

Chapter 139

A week had passed since Neptune, Nepgear and Tolise returned from Zero Dimension. Since then, Neptune and the other CPUs faced the rumors and lies told about them. However, Neptune had decided to throw a party for her return. Though the other CPUs came to attend, they mainly just came to voice their complaints.

"This is so stupid!" Noire sat at the table with the other goddesses. She crossed her arms. "All these dumb rumors are driving me insane! They even started spreading rumors about me being some type of loner who does nothing but create unfair laws for my nation!"

Vert rested her chin onto the palms of her hands. "I know how you feel. Rumors spread that I don't do anything but buy exprensive sweets and lock myself indoors so that I can keep them all to myself..."

Blanc tisked. "You think your problems are bad? Some person has created a fake account of me on and is posting bad reviews all over there! They're even intentionally putting mispelled words in there to piss me off! Now people think I have a secret account!"

Neptune nodded. "Yeah! And people here are saying that I do nothing but sit on my butt and let others do my work for me! Can you believe the nerve?!"

The other three goddesses stared at Neptune, unphased. "They're not wrong though..."

Silver, who had been sitting with Nepgear on the couch, spoke up. "I think those are bad rumors and all, but they are true to an extent..."

All four of them instantly snapped their heads towards Silver and glared at him. "What did you just say!?"

Hikan shook his head. "Man, they're so easily triggered..."

Tolise nodded. "Yeah, but let's try not to do it again, for their sake..."

"Whatever! I'm just sick of all this!" Noire blurted out. "I'll kill the person who did this!"

Vert shook her head. "It might not be that easy. After all, it cannot just be one person spreading all these rumors, it has to be a group of several people."

Noire cocked her head. "Why do you say that?"

"Think about it. There are so many rumors about us spread throughout Gamindustri and more just keeping appearing at a rapid rate. Online, newspapers, news shows..." Vert listed off.

Blanc nodded. "I agree. There has to be more than one jackass out there!"

"But how are we gong to find the group spreading these rumors?" Noire asked. "They could be anyone, anywhere!"

"Oh! I got an idea!" Neptune spoke up.

"Neptune, whenever you come up with an idea, it's usually a stupid idea that ends in a bigger mess," Noire claimed.

"Hold on, Noire," Uni said. "Maybe we should listen to her."

"Yeah! I want to hear Neptune's idea! She could have a totally cool idea!" Ram said.

"I-I want to hear Miss Neptune's idea too..." Rom added.

Vert smiled and looked over at Noire. "Noire, at least hear out Neptune's idea. It could be a great idea."

Blanc nodded. "For once, I agree with Vert."

Noire let out a sigh. "Fine... Neptune, say what you want..."

"Thanks, Noire!" Neptune smiled at Noire.

"Just tell us this awesome idea of yours," Hikan demanded.

Neptune nodded. "Well, I was thinking that we hold a festival, y'know, like the ones we have yearly!"

"I knew it wouldn't be a good idea..." Noire let out a sigh. "Neptune, you even said it yourself! We have one every year in each of our nations, why would we have another one?"

"Oh silly, lonely Noire," Neptune shook her head and wagged her finger at Noire. "I'm not dumb! The festival is only part of my plan!"

"Then, what is your plan?" Vert asked.

Neptune formed a wide grin. "We're going to have a festival with all four nations! A Gamindustri Festival!"

Blanc shrugged. "That's not a bad idea... I can agree to that."

Vert nodded. "Yes, as can I. I must say, it sounds quite delightful!"

Noire smiled and stared at Neptune with a look of approval. "Yeah, it's actually a really good idea, as long as you don't use up all of our budget."

"Alright! It's settled then!" Neptune hopped on top of the table. "Everyone, let's all work together and create the most amazing festival ever!"

"Yeah!" Everyone nodded.

* * *

A few weeks had passed since the CPUs of Gamindustri had decided on the idea of the worldwide festival. The weeks leading up to that, the nations had put aside their differences and helped setup the fesitval.

Once the fesitval had opened, all of Gamindustri forgot about the rumors and enjoyed the festival setup by the CPUs, allowing them to slowly regain their shares. During the days of the festival, the Grand Prix was held. The Grand Prix was a tournament where all the fighters of Gamindustri competed to see who was the strongest. It was the final day of the Grand Prix...

"Thank you!" Uni thanked the man as she received her airsoft gun. "Hm?"

As Uni turned away from the booth, she noticed Nepgear not to far from her, walking on her own. "H-Hey, Nepgear!"

"Hm?" Nepgear's face shined bright when she saw Uni run towards her. "Hey, Uni!"

"Hey!" Uni smiled at Nepgear. "So, what do you think of the festival?"

Nepgear giggled. "I think it turned out really well! Everyone is having so much fun!"

Uni nodded. "Yeah, I didn't think it'd be this much of a success!"

Nepgear resumed walking and Uni began walking beside her. "I'm glad it was a success. All of our nations have nearly regained all of their shares and nobody is talking about any of the rumors anymore. Everyone is just having fun!"

"Hey, Nepgear, Uni!" While Nepgear and Uni walked, they turned their heads to see that Rom and Ram had called to them.

"Oh, hey you two!" Uni smiled as the sisters ran up to them, holding crepes. "Where'd you two get those crepes at?"

Ram formed a wide grin. "We got it from some kind, old man!"

"They taste so good..." Rom quietly added.

"Maybe I'll get one then..." Uni muttered.

"No you won't!" Ram blurted out before pulling out two more crepes. "Ta-da!"

"Woah!" Nepgear and Uni quickly took the crepes. "How did you two get these?"

"Well, that old man gave us two more for free because he was enjoying the festival!" Ram explained.

"Mhm..." Rom nodded.

"See, Uni?" Nepgear asked. "Everyone is enjoying the festival!"

Uni sighed. "I guess you're right..."

"Hey, let's hurry to the Colosseum and see the final Grand Prix match!" Ram suggested.

"Oh yeah," Nepgear smiled. "It's a match between all four of the CPUs, right?"

Rom nodded. "I'm so excited to see it..."

"Then let's hurry over there!" Ram shouted as she dashed towards the Colosseum.

"H-Hey! Ram, wait for us!" Nepgear callled out as she, Uni and Rom ran to catch up with Ram.

As they entered into the stadium room, they were greeted by a large crowd of people. "Wow, there are so many people here..."

"Hey, look over there!" Nepgear pointed towards three boys sitting on a row of bleachers. "There's Silver, Tolise and Hikan!"

The four girls quickly hurried over to where they sat at. "Hey, Silver!"

"Hm?" Silver, who had been losing himself in his thoughts, looked over to his left to see Nepgear. "Oh, hey, you four."

The four girls took seats beside the boys. "Has the match started yet?" Uni asked.

Hikan shook his head. "Not yet, but it's about to..."

Ram grinned. "Yay! We didn't miss it!"

Tolise nodded as he stared at the four goddesses—in their HDD forms—all standing on the arena. "Who are you guys placing your bets on?"

Nepgear nodded. "I have to go with my big sis."

Uni nodded. "Same. I'm rooting for Noire."

"I-I want Blanc to win..." Rom muttered.

"Blanc's gonna win for sure!" Ram claimed.

Hikan shrugged. "I want to vote for Blanc, but, honestly, I'm not sure who will actually win..."

Silver nodded. "Yeah, their all strong and weak in their own ways... I guess I'll go with Vert, just to even out the bets..."

Tolise nodded. "Yeah, I guess it isn't possible to tell who will win, but I'll vote for Neptune."

Silver formed a wide grin. "Then let's see who wins...'

"Oh, hey," Nepgear tugged on Silver's sleeve. "Why didn't you three attend?"

The three boys exchanged glances before sighing. "Histoire said that we couldn't."

Hikan nodded. "Yeah... She said that, if we would have competed, we would have easily won. So, we decided not to attend."

Tolise leaned back in his chair. "Yeah, this is supposed to be a festival to help out the CPUs after all..."

Nepgear nodded. "Yeah..."

"Did you four lose?" Hikan asked the girls.

They all nodded quietly, trying to hide their defeat.

"Well, at least you can root for your sisters now," Silver said as he turned back to the four goddesses. "Look, it's about to start."

"Oh, it is!" They all snapped their attention to the arena as the CPU readied themselves.

"So, I guess it comes down to this, huh?" Blanc materialized her axe and stared at the other three CPUs. "Not that I'm complaining..."

"I agree..." Vert materialized her spear. "I was waiting for the day I would get to fight you three..."

Noire smirked and materialized her sword. "I don't know what you're all talking about. There's no point in fighting since I'm going to win anyways."

Neptune materialized her katana before letting out a laugh. "Honestly, Noire. That cockiness will be your demise..."

"Well, how about we have a free-for-all brawl!" Blanc suggested. "It's better than boring one-on-one matches."

Neptune nodded. "I agree. It sounds like a fun idea!"

"Then, let's not waste anymore time," Vert advised. "Let us finally find out which one of us is the strongest CPU!"

The crowds roared with cheers as the CPUS got ready to fight.

"Hold on a second," A voice stopped the CPUs right as they got ready to fight.

"Huh?" The four CPUs all turned to the side to see four people hop onto the arena.

"Wait," Tolise leaned against the railing, staring at the four people. "Those people look like the people I saw that day we were looking for Histoire's patch..."

Silver nodded. "Looks like it. But they seem to be wearing some extra gear today, and their eyes..."

Tolise nodded. "Yeah, all four of them each have a pair of golden eyes..."

Silver stared at them. "Didn't you say that two of them were called C-Sha and B-Sha?"

Tolise nodded as he continued to stare at them.

The black-haired girl—who had ran into Noire—now wore an eyeptach over her left eye; she wore a black cap, a bulky black device on her back, and she held a pair of golden pistols.

C-Sha now wore a blaster on her right wrist and had a pair of blue and gold wings. Also, she no longer wore a beret.

The girl with silver hair, who had been at the convenience store, now wore a small golden crown on her head. Floating at her sides were a winged shield and, on her right, an angel-like wing. In her hands, she held a crystallized orange long sword with a golden hilt.

Lastly, the girl with the blonde hair—B-Sha—now had a golden eye-like sphere floating at her side. She also held a bulky golden bazooka.

However, the thing they all shared were the golden eyes.

"Who are you four?" Vert asked.

C-Sha smiled. "We're the ones who climbed the Golden Summit and were blessed with these powers. You can call us Gold Third."

"I don't give a damn what you four are called!" Blanc barked. "We were about to fight!"

"What do you guys want, control of Gamindustri?" Neptune asked.

The girl with silver hair stared at the CPUs with an uninterested look. "World domination doesn't interest me..."

"Then what do you guys want!?" Noire asked.

"Simple, we want a fight," B-Sha answered. "Just be glad I'm not charging you for this!"

Neptune smiled. "I see... Then, we'll fight you four."

The black-haired girl tightened her grip on her guns and glared at the CPUs. "I'll make sure to neutralize you four..."

The stadium's cheers grew louder as the two teams of four got ready to fight.

Silver stared at the four golden-eyed girls. "Something's not right..."

"Ha!"

Blanc boosted towards the four of them.

In a blind rage, Blanc smashed her axe down at C-Sha.

Instead of moving to the side, C-Sha used her blaster to shoot the axe to the side, jerking Blanc to the right.

While Blanc was left open, C-Sha smashed her fist into Blanc's gut, knocking the breath out of her. Following that, she grabbed Blanc and threw her back towards the remaining three CPUs.

"There!"

As she did so Vert came in from above and shot out several spears aimed at the four Gold Third members.

Once again, the four of them didn't step away. Instead, the black-haired girl shot all of the spears away in an instant with her golden pistols, leaving Vert completely exposed.

"N-No way..."

While Vert was left in surprise, B-Sha shot a high-speed rocket towards Vert, blowing up upon contact and sending her crashing to the floor.

Neptune and Noire remained the last two standing CPUs.

The two of them both charged towards the silver-haired girl. However, instead of dodging, she quickly materialized a set of golden cards in front of her.

She swiped up on one of the cards and her sword began pulsing out lightning. "Neither of you interest me..."

Before Neptune and Noire could slash at the girl, she dashed forward and slashed at them first.

For a second, nothing happened. But in the next second, the two CPUs blew up and fell to the ground. The four CPUs then reverted back to their normal forms.

"W-We won...?" C-Sha stared at the CPUs with a surprised look. "I knew that these powers were amazing, but we even managed to defeat the CPUs!"

The crowds then began to erupt into a murmur.

"Lady Black Heart lost...?"

"Maybe those rumors were true..."

"Maybe they all are bad CPUs..."

"N-No.." Neptune forced her chin up and stared at Gold Third. "B-But how...?"

Suddenly a hooded figure walked up to the center of the arena. "Sorry, CPUs. But, it's time to rewrite history..."

"W-Wait!" As the figure cast a dark energy into the air and it began enveloping the room, Adult Neptune rushed in to try to stop her.

But it was too late...

* * *

"H-Huh...?" Neptune's eyes fluttered open and she looked around her. "Where is this...?"

Her vision cleared up and revealed that she was on the outskirts of Planeptune. "What happened... I remember that we fought some people called Gold Third and lost."

"Noire!" Neptune glanced at her phone and it revealed a call from Noire. She quickly answered the call. "Hello? Noire?"

"Neptune!" Noire let out a sigh. "Thank goodness you're alright!"

"Don't forget about us," Vert added as she suddenly joined the call.

"We're alive too..." Blanc stated.

Neptune grinned. "That's good! But where are you guys?"

"I'm somewhere close to my nation," Noire answered.

"So am I," Blanc and Vert chorused.

"But have you seen those four golden towers yet?" Noire asked.

"Hm?" Neptune gasped as she saw the four golden towers. "What are those things?!"

"I'm not sure, but it must have something to do with whatever happened," Noire said.

"Whatever the case, we should all find our sisters and friends and regroup at our Basilicoms," Vert instructed. "We can talk once we all reach our Basilicoms."

Neptune nodded. "Alright, stay safe."

Neptune hung up the call and put her phone away before staring off towards Planeptune. "Well, guess I better get going..."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here's the end of this chapter. This chapter was a bit shorter compared to the last few because it's the introduction chapter to the Gold Third story. That being said, sadly, I'll have to downgrade to two chapters a week. The reason for this is because chapters are about to become a lot longer, but there will be less chapters this arc. I'm mainly doing this so that this arc won't drag on, and I can hurry and write Arc Five. Once again, I hope you can understand my reasoning for this. That being said, there's a poll on my page asking when the uploads should now be. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Even if you knew you had no chance of winning in a game, would you still try to win?**


	140. Chapter 140

Chapter 140

 **Tolise's POV**

After that blinding light that had made me black out, I soon found myself on the outskirts of Planeptune. I had hurried back into Planeptune to notice a golden tower. When I asked the citizens if they knew where their CPU was, they simply told me that Gold Third ruled over Planeptune. So, seeing no point in asking further, I decided to head over to the towering golden structure.

"Man, it'd be nice if I knew where Neptune was..." I murmured as I walked through the Planeptune streets. I stared up at the golden tower I was walking towards. "Maybe I'll find some answers if I hurry over there..."

As I muttered those last few words, I dashed towards the golden tower, hoping to find some answers.

"Hm?" When I arrived there, I noticed IF standing there. "Hey, IF!"

"Huh?" She turned back to me. However, she wasn't wearing a welcoming expression. Instead, she wore a puzzled one. "W-Who are you?"

"Eh?" I stopped in front of IF. "Y-Your joking, right?"

She shook her head. "Sorry, but I'm not. I seriously don't know you..."

I crossed my arms. _What's going on here...?_

"But, you could help with my investigation," IF said. "I had some reports say that a suspicious old woman was heading this way. Do you know anything about it?"

I sighed and shook my head. "Sorry, but I don't; I just got here. Plus, I'm looking for a girl named Neptune."

IF cocked her head. "Nept—"

"MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!"

"H-Huh!?"

As IF looked up towards the sky, Neptune crashed into her, causing both of them to sprawl to the ground. I stared at Neptune. "N-Neptune?"

"Hm?" Neptune snapped to attention and looked towards me. As she did, a relieved smile appeared onto her face. "Yay! It's the turtle!"

"Neptune, why were you falling from the sky?" I asked.

Neptune puffed out her cheeks and pointed towards the gates to the looming golden tower. "That tower was locked, and I had to get in! So, I climbed it!"

I let out a sigh. "And I'm guessing you fell?"

Neptune bowed her head. "Yeah..."

"Oh well," I helped IF to her feet. "You okay?"

"Y-Yeah..." IF rubbed her head. Noticing Neptune, she turned to her. "Hey, why's a kid like you climbing this tower?"

Neptune smiled. "Iffy! Oh, thank goodness you're here!"

"H-Hey, how do you know my nickname?!" IF asked with a bit of a blush.

"C'mon, Iffy! We're practically like college roomates, sharing cups of instant ramen cause we can't cook!" Neptune said.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," IF stated. "Maybe I'll have to take you back to Planeptune. You need to go to a hospital."

IF grabbed Neptune and began pulling her back to Planeptune. "H-Hey! Don't pull on me!"

However, IF ignored Neptune's cries and turned to me. "I know we just met, but would you mind tagging along with us. I need to make sure this girl doesn't do anything dumb."

I nodded. "Yeah, I don't mind. I was trying to find her anyways."

IF smiled. "Alright, then let's get going."

"Iffy! Stop pulling so hard!" Neptune cried.

* * *

"Alright, this should be good enough," IF murmured as we re-entered Planeptune.

"Iffy, for the hundredth Nepping time, let me go!" Neptune pleaded.

"O-Oh, sorry," IF quickly let go of Neptune.

"Geez, Iffy!" Neptune ran over to my side and stared at IF. "You've been so mean today! I thought we were best buddies!"

IF sighed and shok her head. "Look, just get to a hospital. I have to go finish some guild work."

"Alright," I nodded and we watched as IF walked away. "That's so weird..."

"Iffy's so mean! She's pretending not to know me!" Neptune crossed her arms.

"I actually don't think she knows us," I said.

"H-Huh? What do you mean?" Neptune asked.

"Well, when I asked her earlier, she said she didn't know me," I explained. "I'm not sure if she actually doesn't remember us, but I think we should just go under the assumption that she doesn't know us. Same goes for the people of Planeptune, considering they don't even know what a CPU is anymore."

Neptune groaned. "Whatever! I'll make Iffy remember!"

I sighed. "We can do that later. Let's just see if we can find anyone at the Basilicom to help us."

Neptune nodded. "At least everything is where it had been."

"Oh yeah," I pointed to Neptune's phone. "Try contacting the others."

"Oh!" Neptune pulled out her phone and dialed Noire. "She's not picking up..."

"That's strange..." I scratched at my chin. "I wonder what happened to her..."

*ATTENTION CITIZENS! WE HAVE COME WITH SOME BREAKING NEWS!*

"Huh?" Neptune and I spun our heads towards a large screen that was on the side of a building. "Breaking news?"

*CURRENTLY, LASTATION GUARDS ARE TRYING TO CAPTURE NOIRE, A GIRL WHO CLAIMS TO BE A CPU!*

"WHAT!?"

I turned my head to Neptune. "Why are people chasing after Noire?!"

Neptune shook her head. "I don't know! I don't think she did anything wrong!"

"Man, this has been such a wild day," I murmued. "Appearently, nobody here believes the CPUs rule the nations. Instead, they believe Gold Third rule."

"You mean those people I fought earlier today?" Neptune questioned.

I nodded. "Yeah..."

"Let's just hurry to the Basilicom," Neptune said. "I need some answers!"

As Neptune blurted out those last words, we both ran towards the Basilicom.

Upon entering, all the Basilicom staff turned to us. "Hello, what may we help you with?"

"Hey! Are you guys doing what Iffy was doing too?" Neptune asked the staff member.

"Miss, what are you talking about?" The staff member asked. "Shouldn't you two be in school?"

Neptune shook her head. "I get it! You're acting dumb cause I never did my work, is that it?"

Another staff member sighed. "Look, get those two out of here. They're just here to cause a ruckus."

At the staff member's command, four other members grabbed us and began pulling us out of the Basilicom. "H-Hey! We didn't do anything wrong!" I shouted. "Just let us explain!"

"What's all this comotion about?" Histoire asked as she floated through a pair of doors.

"Miss Histoire," all the staff members stopped and bowed at her. "We're sorry. These two are speaking like lunatics. We were about to kick them out."

"Hm?" Histoire turned to us and gasped. "Neptune! Tolise!"

"Histy, yay!" Neptune ran up to Histoire. "I'm so glad you remembered us! Everyone here is crazy and forgot me!"

Histoire nodded. "I can explain that in a second."

"Histoire, are these acquaintances of yours?" The staff member asked.

Histoire smiled. "Yes. You could say they're old friends. Leave them in my care."

The staff members nodded. "Yes, Histoire."

"Now," Histoire turned to us. "Neptune, Tolise, follow me. We have much to discuss."

Without any hesitation, we both followed Histoire to the elevator. After a few mintues of waiting, we arrived in the familiar living room area. Histoire led us to the couch, and Neptune and I sat down.

"Now, I'm sure you both have many questions as to what's going on," Histoire said.

Neptune nodded. "Yeah, nobody here—besides you and Tolise—remember me. How can you two remember me?"

Histoire nodded. "I'm not quite sure myself. But I do have an idea as to why. For me, it is simply because I can record history. Even though history has been altered here, both of you have already been recorded in my tome."

"Then what about me?" I asked.

"I believe that is simply due to you not being originally from here," Histoire answered. "As simple as it sounds, you and Silver both came from a different dimension. You wouldn't lose your memories because you never originated here."

"But what's going on?" I asked. "Everyone here is acting like CPUs never existed, and Gold Third have always been in control. Why is that?"

Histoire sighed. "To be honest, I don't have a true definition for this. It may have something to do with history when it was rewritten. I do know that one of the four Gold Third reside in each of the nations However, there are two other major changes to Gamindustri."

I cocked my head. "Two more?"

Histoire nodded. "Yes. The first being that new monsters are appearing and are being infected by a dark mist. Because of this, monsters have been rampaging througout the nations."

"Really?" I crossed my arms. "I wonder what the cause of that mist is..."

"I'm not sure what it is. However, this never did happen when the CPUs were still ruling," Histoire admitted. "Also, the second issue is the main organization that has been causing all of this."

"Oh, did you mean AffimaX?" Neptune wondered.

"W-Wait. How do you already know about them?" Histoire asked. "Has their name already been leaked?"

Neptune shook her head. "Nope. I just heard it on the internet. What do they do anyways?"

Histoire let out a sigh. "They steal information and sell it to others. Often times, they reword the information to sabotage others."

I nodded. "I see..."

Neptune let out a groan. "By the way, who's the Gold Third of this nation? You said that there was one in each nation."

Histoire let out a moan. "B-Sha is this nation's Gold Third. However, she acts quite like you, Neptune."

"Like me? How so?" Neptune asked.

Histoire shook her head. "She's quite lazy and fools around all day."

"Man, that does sound like Neptune," I murmured.

"That being said, since she's not here, you can do her work for her, Neptune," Histoire said. "It's about time you start doing your job as a CPU anyways."

"H-Hold on, Histy!" Neptune quickly said. "H-How about I go find Iffy and do some work with her?"

"IF?" Histoire stared at Neptune, concerned. "But she doesn't remember you..."

Neptune formed a wide grin. "I know! But I think I can get her to remember!"

Histoire let out a sigh. "Fine, do as you wish..."

"Yay! Thanks, Histy!" Neptune grinned at Histoire and turned ot me. "C'mon! Let's go see Iffy!"

I sighed. "I'm not sure if she'll be too happy to see you..."

"Whatever!" Neptune grabbed my wrist and pulled me along with her. "Let's get going!"

* * *

After leaving the Basilicom and searching for around fifteen minutes for IF, we found her heading towards a park. "Yo, Iffy!"

"Hm?" IF turned back to us. "Oh, you two were the ones from earlier."

Neptune sighed. "I guess you really don't remember us, huh?"

"Hm? Say something?" IF questioned.

Neptune shook her head. "Nah, don't worry about it!"

"By the way, I never got either of your names," IF said. "Could you tell them to me?"

"I'm Neptune!" She introduced.

I nodded. "Tolise."

IF smiled. "I see..."

"Where are you going anyways?" I asked.

IF nodded. "Well, I got another lead for that old lady. So, I'm going to go investigate again."

"Oh! Iffy, can we come with you?" Neptune asked.

IF sighed. "Sorry, but no kid like you could help. Just stay here, okay?"

Neptune sighed. "Fine..."

"Good," IF then spun on her heel and began walking towards a park.

As I watched her walk off, I turned to Neptune. "We're not just going to stay here, are we?"

"Duh!" Neptune said. "We're going to go follow Iffy!"

I sighed. "I figured as much..."

Neptune began to run off towards the park. "Still better than work!"

* * *

We had followed IF to the park. Along the way, we had been caught by her and had been told to go back home. However, we continued to follow her. After following her for a while, we had lost sight of her.

"Where do you think she went?" I asked.

"I dunno..." Neptune muttered. "Iffy has always been such a strange one..."

"Kyahh!"

"Huh?" We both turned our heads to the sound of a cry. "Let's check over there!"

Neptune nodded. "Yeah!"

"Die!"

"Too slow!"

As we arrived at the area, Arfoire had smashed down at IF with her staff.

However, before she landed the strike, I slowed down time and—materializing my blade—quickly parried the strike. Time resumed and Arfoire stumbled back.

"You're still alive?" I questioned Arfoire.

She smirked. "Of course."

"Aww," Neptune leaned close to IF. "Arbore damaged your cute face..."

"C-Cute?!" IF blushed and averetd her gaze from Neptune. "Shut up and just focus on that old lady, Nep!"

Neptune grinned upon hearing her old nickname. "Yay! Iffy called me by my nickname again! Now I'm hyped to take out Arsnore!"

Arfoire snarled at us. "Don't think that you can win so easily!"

Neptune activated her HDD form and materialized her katana. "Arfoire, I don't know why you're here and alive, but I'll defeat you and avenge Iffy!"

"Hold on," IF stopped us and pulled out her katar blades. "I'm fighting too!"

"Are you sure, Iffy?" Neptune asked. "Your injuries haven't healed yet!"

IF smirked. "I don't care! I want revenge on this hag!"

Neptune smiled. "Alright then..."

We turned back and faced Arfoire, who was smiling. "I'll repay you two tenfold for what you did to me in Zero Dimension!"

Without any warning, Arfoire charged towards us.

"You'll all perish here!"

As Arfoire sped towards us, her staff morphed into a katana and she slashed at Neptune.

Neptune quickly blocked the strike and countered with her own slash.

However, as Arfoire jumped out of the way, I dashed behind her and thrusted my blade at her.

In an instant, Arfoire, spun on her heel and parried my strike. While I was left open, Arfoire morphed her katana into an axe—similar to Blanc's—and swung it towards me.

I allowed my body to fall, causing Arfoire to begin to fall forward due to the axe's weight. As she fell, I kicked her in the gut and sent her sprawling back.

"You're finished!"

As the two of us hurried to our feet, IF threw several knives at Arfoire, pinning her to the ground. "Damnit!"

IF then leaped into the air and began throwing out a barrage of knives towards Arfoire. While some hit hurt, others were thrown in the area around her.

As she threw her pair of katar and I got out of the knive's range, they all blew up, catching Arfoire in the blast. "Argh!"

"This is my revenge to you, you hag!"

Before the smoke cleared, IF fell down into the smoke with a new set of katar, filled with energy.

Just as the smoke cleared, IF impaled the ground with her katar, causing the ground to split apart around Arfoire as she tried to get to her feet.

As Arfoire fell once again, IF filled her katar with energy once again and sliced an energy wave at Arfoire.

"ARGH!" Upon contact, many slices of energy began cutting away at Arfoire, creating cuts and shredding her clothes.

As the energy stopped cutting away at her, Arfoire fell to the ground and the three of us cornered her to a tree. Neptune held her blade's tip at Arfoire's throat. "It's over, Arfoire. Tell us why you're here and we'll let you leave quietly."

IF nodded. "Yeah, and I'd also like to know what you did with all those stolen consoles."

"First of all, I have no idea what you mean by stolen consoles," Arfoire smirked. "And as to why I'm here, that's a secret."

Neptune pressed the blade's tip lightly against Arfoire's throat. "Start talking. Now."

Arfoire continued to smirk. "Try me."

"What?" Neptune stared at Arfoire with a confused look. "…!"

In an instant, Neptune jerked her katana away from Arfoire and blocked an incoming attack from the side. "What the?!"

"Good timing, ninja," Arfoire rose back to her feet and jumped onto a tree branch, where the purple, ninja-like robot stood. "What took you so long?"

The ninja robot bowed at Arfoire. "I'm sorry. It took longer than expected."

Arfoire sneered. "It doesn't matter. Now that you're here, you can help me end these twerps!"

"…" We tightened our hold on our weapons.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot do that," the ninja robot apologized. "I only take orders from Lord Affimojas."

Arfoire tisked. "Damnit," she let out a sigh. "Oh well. Get me out of here then."

The robot nodded and turned towards us. Before we could give chase to the robot and Arfoire, a smoke covered our area, blinding our view. "A smokescreen!?"

"See you brats later!" Arfoire called out as her voice slowly became more and more distant.

"Damnit!" IF cursed as the smoke faded away. "She got awa—urk!"

"Iffy!" Neptune ran over to IF as she suddenly crumpled to the ground. "Iffy, you're injured..."

"I-I'm fine..." IF claimed as she tried getting back up, only to fall back down. "Agh!"

"I'll call Compa!" Neptune quickly snatched one of IF's several phones and dialed Compa's number, putting it on speaker.

"Hello! This is Compa!" Compa greeted. "Iffy, why are you calling at this time?"

"Compa, where are you right now?" Neptune frantically asked.

"H-Huh? You're not Iffy..." Compa murmured. "U-Um... I'm in the hospital cafeteria, eating lunch..."

Neptune nodded. "Alright, stay right there. I'm on my way!"

"W-Wait, is that you, Nep-Nep?" Compa suddenly asked.

"H-Huh?" Neptune was caught off guard. "Compa, you remember me?!"

Compa giggled. "I didn't at first, but the more you spoke, the more I remembered you!"

Neptune smiled. "I'm glad. I'll be heading to you now."

"Okay!" Compa said.

Neptune turned to me as I heaved IF onto my back. "Let's get going."

I nodded. "Yeah..."

* * *

After arriving at the hospital, Compa had treated IF's wounds. An hour later, IF woke up.

"Sorry, Nep, Tolise," IF apologized as we all sat on a park bench. "After that light had blinded us, we just forgot about you all."

Neptune—who had returned to her normal form—shook her head before smiling. "It's fine, Iffy! I'm just glad you and Compa remembered me!"

"Oh yeah," IF turned to me. "Tolise, do you know where Silver or Hikan are?"

I shook my head. "I haven't seen them at all."

"I see..." IF let out a sigh. "Then they're probably somewhere else in Gamindustri."

I nodded. "Probably."

"Neptune!" While we conversed, we turned to see Nepgear running towards us.

"Nepgear!" Neptune rose from her seat and ran over to Nepgear, giving her a warm hug. "Oh, it's so good to see you!"

"You too!" Nepgear said.

"What's been going on your side, Gear?" IF asked.

"Well, I was somewhere in Planeptune and it took me a while to find you guys," Nepgear explained. "I did find out that Noire was put in custody in her Basilicom and Uni is currently trying to break her out; Rom and Ram made it to Lowee and are looking for Blanc, while Vert is dealing with some demon in Leanbox."

IF stared at Nepgear with a blank expression. "Gear, how do you know all of that?"

Nepgear smiled. "Well, I figured out the thing about Lastation from intercepting radio signals to contact Uni, while the other things I figured out through hacking."

IF sighed. "To think that Gear would find out something before a guild agent..."

As IF slumped her shoulders, Compa patted her back. "Don't worry, Iffy! You'll always be reliable to us!"

"Hmm..." Neptune scratched at her chin before turning to Nepgear. "Hey, Nepgear. Can you go to Vert and help her out?"

"H-Huh!?" The four of us stared at Neptune with looks of disbelief. "Nep-Nep, are you sure?"

Neptune nodded. "Yeah. I have you three to be with me, Noire has Uni, and Blanc's got Rom and Ram. But Vert is on her own. When I got here, I was on my own too. Nepgear, please go assist Vert!"

Nepgear nodded. "Alright!"

Before we could say anything else, Nepgear spun on her heel and began running towards Leanbox. I smiled as she disappeared from our view and turned to Neptune. "I'm proud of you, Neptune."

"Hm? Why?" Neptune asked curiously.

"You actually were responsible for once," IF stated. "Good job, Nep."

Compa nodded. "I'm so proud of you, Nep-Nep!"

Neptune let out a sigh. "Yeah, yeah..."

"Hm?" As one of IF's many phones rang, she picked it up to reveal a text message. After reading it, she let out a sigh. "Well, I guess we gotta get moving."

"Why's that?" Compa asked.

"Apparently, there was a mysterious mouse who just tried to sell a bunch of consoles to a pawn shop," IF explained. "But since it didn't have an ID to show, it ran away in a panic."

"So you're saying that a rat just tried selling a bunch of stolen consoles and we're going to go find it, right?" I questioned.

IF nodded. "Yeah."

"But where would we start looking?" Compa asked. "Where would we find a mou—Kyahh!"

"Agh!"

Before Compa was finished speaking, a small creature ran into Compa and knocked them both to the ground. "Ouch! Hey, watch where you're going!" The creature barked.

"I-I'm sorry!" Compa quickly apologized. "W-Wait..."

"No way," IF and Neptune stared at the rat with surprised looks. "It's that rat..."

"Mister Mouse!?" Compa stared at the rat with an agape mouth.

The rat's speech instantly changed upon seeing Compa. "Oh, my sweet Compa! I'm truly sorry for running into you! Did I hurt you?"

Compa smiled before shaking her head. "No, I'm fine."

"H-Hey, who's this rat?" I asked.

Neptune grinned. "That's Warechu. He's basically an evil rat who somehow fell head over heels for Compa!"

I chuckled and stared at Warechu. "I see..."

IF walked up to Warechu. "Don't move, rat. You're under arrest."

"Woah, woah! Iffy, why are you arresting him?" Neptune asked. "He didn't even do anything yet!"

IF smirked. "Well, from that report I got, it's apparently a rat who refused to show ID, and this rat is known for his criminal record. So, there really is no need in questioning if it really was him!"

"H-Hey!" Warechu struggled as IF grabbed his tiny body. "Rgh!"

"E-Ew!" IF instantly recoiled as Warechu licked her.

"Now's my chance!" Taking the opprunity, Warechu dashed off.

I sighed. "Seriously, I don't think now of all times is the best to be worrying about hygiene..."

IF's cheeks flushed. "S-Shut and help me chase after that rat!"

We all instantly began chasing after Warechu. However, he was still faster than us due to his size. "Shoot! He's too fast!"

"Mom, look!" A boy who had appeared in Warechu's way pointed towards him. "Look at that rat!"

"Outta my way, brat!" Warechu—although small—shoved the boy to the ground.

"H-Hey!" The mother called after Warechu.

"You suckers won't catch m—!" As Warechu turned back to taunt us, B-Sha—wearing a black masquerade mask over her eyes—appeared and kicked Warechu into the ground, knocking him unconscious.

"Ha! You can't beat me! Presto Mask, the hero of children!" B-Sha said.

I stared at her with confusion. "W-Why's she wearing a mask and calling herself Presto Mask...?"

"Woah! That girl defeated that rat!" Neptune stared at "Presto Mask" with a surprised look.

IF let out a groan. "Oh, not her again..."

"Here you go," B-Sha tossed us the unconscious Warechu. "You can thank me with one thousand Credits!"

"W-What!? I don't have that kind of money!" Neptune shouted. "What kind of a hero are you!?"

B-Sha smiled. "I'm a hero for children!"

"Well I didn't know I had to pay a fine for somebody to help stop a criminal!" Neptune responded.

B-Sha smiled. "I guess that's fine. Since it seems to be your first time, I won't charge you this time!"

"H-Hey!" Before Neptune could catch up to B-Sha, she disappeared.

"Hey, why was B-Sha wearing a mask?" I asked IF.

IF groaned as Neptune walked back over towards us. "She pretends to be this hero called Presto Mask. She'll charge you for her services and she thinks her identity is a secret, even though everyone already knows it's her..."

"Y-Yeah, of course!" Neptune claimed. "W-Who could fall for such an obvious mask?"

I sighed. "Neptune, stop lying to yourself."

"Whatever, let's just take this rat to the Basilicom and interrogate him," IF said as she held Warechu by the tail. "If he's guilty, we'll throw him in jail."

Compa smiled and nodded. "I like that idea!"

* * *

"H-Huh?" Warechu's eyes fluttered open and he looked around, seeing all four of us surrounding him. As he tried to move, he figured out that he was strapped to a chair. "Hey! Let me go!"

I sighed. "Look, if you get talking, then we'll let you go."

Warechu turned his gaze away from us. "Yeah right! I may not be the best rat, but I'm still loyal!"

"Please, Mister Mouse!" Compa begged. "It'd really help us out!"

Hearing Compa's words, Warechu instantly snapped his head to us with an interested look on his face. "If it's for Compa, I'll do anything!"

I rolled my eyes. "So much for being loyal..."

IF grinned widely. "Alright, then tell us about the members of AffimaX, who they are and what are their roles. Don't be vague either."

"Fine," Warechu let out a heavy sigh. "There are four of us—including me—and several that just hang around with us.

I nodded. "Can you go into further detail?"

Warechu let out a groan. "First, there's the leader, Affimojas, who controls our plans. There's the old hag, Arbore or something. She's just a lackey—like me—except that she thinks she's better than us. Lastly there's a ninja robot named Steamax, who's basically the leader's right hand man. Also, I don't know anything about the other few, they just drop by."

IF nodded. "Then why are you guys gathering consoles?"

Warechu shrugged. "Beats me. Orders are orders. We're just looking for a console with an orange swirl mark."

Neptune and I exchanged looks. "..."

IF crossed her arms. "Okay. Can you—"

"Ding Dong! Bing Bong!" Before IF could continue questioning Warechu, B-Sha's voice came over the intercom and interrupted us. "Uhh... Neptune, IF, Compa...and Tolise! Please report to the lobby at once. This has been a message by B-Sha! Ding Dong! Bing Bong!"

IF let out a sigh and turned to Warechu. "Let's at least put him in a cell before we go."

* * *

"Well, I guess I can't be too surprised by this outcome," I muttered.

After we had locked Warechu away, we had reported down to where Histoire and B-Sha were. There, B-Sha had cleared up that she didn't have any grudge towards us, and Histoire briefed us on a task; we were to report to a nearby city and help fend off the monsters there. However, before we had gone, Histoire had also forced B-Sha to come along with us.

"Oh, there it is," Compa pointed towards a ruined city close ahead.

"Finally," I materialized my blade and picked up my pace towards the city. "I'm tired of walking, I want to fight something."

Neptune nodded. "I totally agree!"

As Neptune transformed, a group of Horsebirds began galloping towards us.

"..Ugh!" Before the monsters could near us, B-Sha ran off.

"H-Hey! B-Sha!" Neptune called out to her as she ran away. "Oh well. I guess we'll have to do this on our own..."

I sneered as the others produced their weapons. "Either way, I'll take them out!"'

"NEEIGH!"

As we all took stances, the Horsebirds charged towards us.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And here is the end of the first chapter in Neptune's story. Now the next chapter will be the last chapter of her story before we move onto the next. Each story will be divided into two chapters, which is why it is only two uploads per week. I might also do this with the Heart Dimension story also. That being said, uploads will now be a double upload every Friday. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **What do you think the last arc will be about? It'll be here sooner than you think. I'm just curious because I already have it planned out.**


	141. Chapter 141

Chapter 141

"Die!"

"Neigh!"

As the Horsebirds galloped up to us, I ran up to one and drove my blade through it's neck. Blood spewed out of it as I pulled my blade out and it fell to the ground.

"NEIGH!"

"…!"

Just as I turned around to see another Horsebird about to strike me, IF came down from above and stabbed the Horsebird down to the ground, splattering blood.

"NEIG—!"

The Horsebird that I had struck down forced itself to lunge towards me.

However, before it could attack me, Compa jabbed her gigantic syringe into it's head, causing it to finally die and fall to the ground.

"Hrah!" I turned just in time to see Neptune take out the final Horsebird, severing it's head in a clean slice.

I smiled as I watched it's head roll along the ground. "Good job guys."

Neptune nodded. "Yeah, but why did B-Sha run away?"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure... Maybe she's afraid of the monsters..."

IF let out a sigh. "To be honest, I could care less what the reason is. After we're finished here, I'm gonna give her a real good scolding!"

"AHHH!"

"We can worry about that later," Neptune turned to face the source of the cries. "Right now, let's focus on defeating all of these monsters and saving the people!"

"Alright," we nodded and ran towards into the city.

"There are so many monsters here!" Compa said.

"Let's just worry about saving those people before we worry about these monsters!" IF advised. "We can't risk losing any lives!"

"Look, up there!" Compa pointed ahead of us.

Lying on the ground were two Planeptune guards, beaten and tired. "Somebody! Please save us!"

"Damnit! If only our CPU was here..." One of the guards gritted his teeth.

The guard tightened the grip on his blade. "I wish she were here too, but we have to stand our ground!"

"GROOOAH!" The three Ancient Dragons all let out roars and swiped at the two guards.

"Ah!"

"Tah!"

"Hyah!"

I slowed down time before the Ancient Dragons could hit the two guards. As I did so, Neptune and IF rushed in with me and—resuming time—each chopped off their attacking arm.

"GROAAAH!" The three Ancient Dragons let out cries of pain as they stumbled back, blood spilling from their open injuries.

As the Ancient Dragons stumbled back, Compa ran to the guards, frantically checking that they weren't injured. "Are you two okay?"

"Y-Yeah..." One of the guards nodded.

The guards stared at Neptune. "L-Lady Purple Heart! You're alive! Thank goodness!"

She smiled back at them. "I am. Thank you for guarding this city, but I'll take it from here."

"Wait, Neptune," I stared at the two guards. "How do you two remember Neptune?"

Compa stared at them with a puzzled expression. "I thought nobody remembered Nep-Nep..."

"Yeah," I nodded as I stared at the two guards. "How come you two remember her?"

"Well you see—"

"GRAOOOH!"

Before the guards could explain, the Ancient Dragosn landed back in front of us. I sighed and the four of us turned back to them. "Hold on. Let's take care of these things first..." I turned back to Compa. "Compa, keep them safe and try to clean any of their injuries."

Compa nodded as IF, Neptune and I turned back to face the three Ancient Dragons. IF smiled. "Three, huh? That's going to be interesting..."

I nodded. "How about we each take one? I prefer one-on-one matches anyways."

Neptune also nodded. "Ditto."

"GROAAAH!"

As the girls spread away, with their opponent following close behind them, the Ancient Dragon spit out a breath of fire at me.

Relying on survival instincts, I dodged to the right, avoiding the sudden flames. I took the open chance and I jumped towards it's head, ready to drive my blade into it's head.

But before I could get near the Ancient Dragon, it flew into the air, flapping it's wings, causing me to be blown back to the ground.

I tisked and glared up at it, taking a stance. "Damn your wings..."

"GROAAH!"

The Ancient Dragon swooped down and chomped it's jaw down onto me.

Before it's sharp teeth could bite down on me and tear me apart, I jumped back as it bit down, leaving me with a view of it's sharp set of teeth.

"Hah!"

While the Ancient Dragon tried to retreat back into the air, I pushed against it's teeth with my blade.

"GRAAAAH!"

Through it's closed mouth, the Ancient Dragon let out a muffled roar and exerted more force against my blade, pushing me back.

As I focused my mind on pushing back the Ancient Dragon, I planted my feet firmly into the ground and held my ground.

"RAAAH!"

While the Ancient Dragon struggled to move me, I also exerted more force, pushing the Ancient Dragon back.

"GRAAH!"

As the Ancient Dragon skidded back, it shot out a fireball while I ran towards it.

I filled my blade with energy and quickly sliced the flames in half, allowing me to pass through it and head right towards the Ancient Dragon. "TAAAH!"

I slowed down time before the Ancient Dragon could take flight once again. Right as it ascended off it's feet, I jumped towards it and sliced it's head off.

I landed on one knee as time resumed and I dematerialized my blade. I turned back to see the Ancient Dragon's head fall off and it's body collapse to the ground with a thud. I let out a sigh as it's head rolled towards me.

I turned to see Neptune chop the head off of her Ancient Dragon, as well as seeing IF stab her katar blades into her Ancient Dragon's head repeatedly. They both turned away from their dead enemies and walked back over to me.

"I guess their dead, huh?" Neptune asked.

IF smiled and nodded. "Yeah, and because of that, I guess all of the other monsters have left town."

Compa smiled. "Yay! The monsters are gone!"

Neptune nodded. "Yeah."

"Thank you so much, Lady Purple Heart!" The two guards ran up to Neptune and kneeled at her feet. "We are forever grateful."

Neptune smiled at them. "Please, it's no big deal. After all, what kind of a CPU would I be if I didn't protect my citizens?"

The guards formed wide grins. "That's our Lady Purple Heart! We are forever loyal!"

"But how do you two remember me?" Neptune asked them.

The guards stood up and saluted at her. "How could we ever forget our CPU we pledged our faith to!? We would never forget you!"

IF sighed. "Now I feel so mean for forgetting Nep..."

Compa smiled. "But you did remember! All it took was a lot of help!"

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, so that means that people probably will remember Neptune if she keeps performing good deeds for them!"

Neptune nodded. "Yes. Now then, let's head back to Histy."

I nodded. "Yeah, we're done here."

"T-Thank you, Lady Purple Heart!" The guards called out to us as we left.

Neptune waved them goodbye and we began our walk back to the Basilicom...

* * *

After we had returned to the Basilicom, we had informed Histoire of B-Sha running away and how the two guards had remembered Neptune. Hearing that explanation, it made Histoire smile a bit. However, Neptune then proposed to go find B-Sha and talk to her. When we suggested that we went along with her, Neptune said that going alone would be the best idea. However, right as Neptune left, we had gone to check on Warechu, only to discover he had escaped.

Later that evening, Neptune returned with B-Sha. Neptune then explained to us how B-Sha had a fear of monsters, allowing us to figure out why she had ran away. Neptune then said that they had come up with a compromise and that, while B-Sha stopped criminals, the rest of us would stop the invading monsters.

A few days passed since they created the compromise. However, instead of Planeptune becoming more efficient, it was what it usually was: lazy. This went on for a few days until Histoire got mad and kicked Neptune and B-Sha out, forcing them to do work.

For a whole week, they worked until IF gave Histoire a report. On the report, it stated Neptune's rapid growth of popularity and how people were beginning to remember her. It also showed that the citizens enjoyed Neptune and B-Sha's rule.

However, rumors about them were also spreading like wildfire. Although some of them were true to an extent, such as Neptune's laziness, most of them were misconstrued facts posted on the website _GeneralSummarySite_. Since Neptune didn't want to deal with it, she just ended up leaving with B-Sha to play on the orange swirl-marked console for the rest of the day.

"Those two are so lazy..." I murmured as IF, Compa and I sat on the couch and watched them play retro games.

"Yeah, but that's what I like about Nep-Nep!" Compa said.

IF nodded. "Although I hate to admit it, I agree with Compa. "Nep may be lazy, but that's what makes her Nep."

I chuckled as we continued to watch them. "I do agree with you guys, but don't you think we should try to stop B-Sha from becoming like Neptune?"

IF let out a sigh. "Don't even bother. She's already in a worse position than Nep."

"Everyone! There's an emergency!" Histoire shouted as she came flying in.

"Hm? What's up, Histy?" Neptune asked as she pulled her eyes away from the game. "Are you having trouble lifting something up again?"

"N-No! It's not that!" Histoire said. "The city you guys visited got attacked again! This time, there are many more monsters swarming there!"

IF crossed her arms. "Those guards won't be able to hold their own for long if we don't hurry over there."

Compa nodded. "We have to go help them!"

"Yeah! Let's go!" Neptune said. She turned to B-Sha. "B-Sha, you stay here and watch Planeptune, m'kay?"

B-Sha flashed Neptune the thumbs up. "You got it, Nep-Nep!"

I cracked my knuckles and turned to Histoire. "We'll be going now."

Histoire nodded. "Yes. I'll go watch over the control room while B-Sha is defending the city. Please, do be careful."

I smiled. "Don't worry. We'll be fine!"

* * *

"Damn, Histoire wasn't kidding when she said this place was swarming with monsters," I murmured as I overlooked the city from a building top.

After we had arrived in the neighboring city, we had climbed a building to see scout out the situation.

Neptune—in her HDD form—nodded as she set Compa and IF down onto the building top. "Yeah. It's like an apocalypse full of monsters."

"There are so many..." Compa murmured.

IF nodded. "True, but we just have to find the one responsible for causing all these monsters to come here..."

Upon noticing, I pointed towards Warechu, spawning monsters with disks. "I think I found our culprit."

"Hey, there's that damn escape rat!" IF glared at Warechu. "When I get my hands on that rat, I'll strangle him!"

"Let's just get down there first," I advised.

"But there are so many monsters down there," Compa stated.

I shrugged and materialized my blade. "True, but I think that makes for a fun time!"

"WHAT!?"

Before the girls could chase after me, I jumped down and allowed energy to surge through my body. As I neared the ground, I kicked off the building and stabbed my blade into a Dogoo.

While the blade drove through the Dogoo, I instantly swung my blade into the air, causing the Dogoo to slide off and be thrown towards the clouds. I then landed on my feet.

Just as my feet touched the ground, waves of monsters began to swarm me. Before they could touch me, I slowed down time and began chopping away at all of them.

I finished hacking and slashing through the many monsters and resumed time.

As I did so, a loud shrill of all the monsters echoes filled the air as their bodies either blew up or collapsed to the floor in a bloody pool.

I looked around. Besides the chopped off limbs, rolling heads, blood pools and corpses, the only person that was left standing was Warechu, cowering in fear.

I smirked as the girls landed onto the ground. The four of us began to surround Warechu. "So, rat, were you the one spawning all of these monsters in?"

"S-So what if I was!?" Warechu barked. "T-This was just a diversion anyways so that that console of yours could be stolen!"

"What!?" Neptune and I stared at Warechu with horror.

"What's wrong, Nep?" IF asked. "It's just a game console."

I gulped. "A-Actually, that console was the reason we were sent to Zero Dimension..."

IF spun back to me. "WHAT!?"

"S-So, is that why they want the console so badly, Nep-Nep?" Compa asked.

Neptune nodded. "I believe so..."

I turned back to Warechu. "You damn rat!"

"It doesn't matter! Because that console is probably long gone now!" Warechu stated.

"We don't have time to deal with him," IF said. "What do we do?"

I shrugged. "Why not bury him?"

Warechu's eyes widened. "B-Bury!?"

IF shrugged. "That's not a bad idea. Get me a shovel."

"C-Compa! P-P-Please save me!" Warechu begged.

Compa let out a sigh. "Sorry, Mister Mouse, but I can't save you this time. Plus, you made all these mean monsters come here, and I don't like people who do that. I hate them!"

Warechu's face suddenly paled and his body became stiff. "C-Compa...h-hates...me..."

"U-Um..." We watched as Warechu planted his face into the concrete road.

"SHE HATES ME! SHE HATES ME! SHE HATES ME!" Warechu continued to repeat the words. "NOOOOO!"

"H-Hey!" Before we could grab Warechu, he quickly ran off in tears.

I shook my head. "Boy, I'm glad I haven't had to deal with rejection yet..."

Neptune sighed. "You don't know that..."

"Whatever. Let's just go find that console!" IF said.

We nodded and ran back towards the capital city.

* * *

"Hey, B-Sha!" As we arrived back in the capital city, we noticed B-Sha, also known as "Presto Mask".

"N-Nep-Nep?!" B-Sha tensed up upon hearing her name. She frowned at Neptune—who had reverted back to her normal form—as we approached B-Sha. "Nep-Nep, don't call me that! Right now, I'm Presto Mask!"

Neptune smiled dryly. "Y-Yeah, s-sorry..."

"Anyways, what's up?" B-Sha asked.

"Well, we lost the console we were playing on earlier..." Neptune said. "Apparently, that's what AffimaX was after."

B-Sha smiled at us. "Well, I'll help look for it! If I find anything, I'll call you guys!"

Neptune formed a wide smile. "Thanks, B-Sha!"

"I-I said I'm Presto Mask!" B-Sha whined.

"Whatever," I began to start towards a different direction. "See you later, B-Sha. We're off."

As B-Sha let out a huff of air, she waved us goodbye. "Alright, see you guys later."

We left B-Sha and continued to wander down the Planeptune streets. "How are we going to find the person who stole the console?" Compa asked.

IF let out a breath. "I don't know. We don't have any leads right now..."

"That's sucks..." Neptune sighed. "Man, it'd be great if something plot convenient happened..."

"Oh! Miss Neptune!" We turned to the voice's source; it was a mouse.

However, unlike Warechu, this mouse had white fur, black eyes and a tail with a small pink bow tied at the end. She also wore a yellow apron with orange straps.

"Oh, a mouse," Neptune stared at the mouse. "U-Um, do you need something?"

"I'm Chuko!" The mouse introduced. "I'm here to thank you all!"

"Oh yeah," IF stared at Chuko. "You're the owner of that one game store, right?"

Chuko nodded. "Yes! I wanted to thank you all for getting all of my consoles back! I'm truly grateful!"

"Oh, don't thank us! Thank B-Sha!" Neptune said.

Chuko smiled. "Alright, I will! But at least take these coupons from me!"

We took the coupons and read what they said. "Get twenty percent off when you spend over six thousand Credits..."

IF stared at the coupons with worry. "This mouse really knows how to make a profit..."

"Actually, could you tell us if you saw somebody come by with a console?" I asked

"What did the console look like?" Chuko asked.

"It was a white console with an orange swirl mark," Neptune explained.

"Oh, I actually did!" Chuko said. She pointed down a way. "I saw them hurry over that way."

Neptune smiled. "Thanks!"

As Neptune thanked Chuko, we ran towards the arena, where the thief supposedly was.

Upon entering, we saw Steamax walking towards the other end of the arena. "Hey! Stop right there!"

"Hm?" Steamax turned back to us. In his hand, he held the console. "..."

"Just hand over the console and you can leave peacefully," IF offered. "Otherwise, you won't like the outcome!"

"…" Steamax averted his gaze from us and murmured something quietly.

"Hey! Speak up!" IF barked.

"I-I can't talk to girls..." Steamax said.

"He may be a robot, but at least he's unique..." I added.

"Whatever. Let's just beat him up and take the console," IF said.

As Neptune activated her HDD form and we all materialized our weapons, we caught Steamax off guard and charged towards him.

"Tah!"

Neptune leaped forward and slammed her blade down towards Steamax as IF threw several knives behind Steamax.

Steamax quickly used his giant shuriken and used it as a shield, blocking Neptune's strike but causing the shuriken to receive a crack. Steamax then grabbed Neptune and threw her towards the knives.

While Neptune flew out of the way of the knives, I dashed up to Steamax and thrusted my blade at him. Steamax quickly spun back to me and parried my strike.

He then kicked me away and Compa came up from behind and thrusted her syringe at him. However, Steamax sliced the needle off and also kicked Compa away.

As I skidded to a halt, I threw my blade at Steamax. Just as he blocked it, IF came down from above, ready to strike him down.

Steamax quickly jumped away and threw his shuriken at her. As the shuriken sped towards her, Neptune sliced it in half before dashing towards Steamax.

This time, Steamax had no way of blocking. Instead, he blocked Neptune's strike.

However, Neptune pressed her blade against his. "Haa!"

As Steamax struggled to keep Neptune at bay, his sword broke in half, leaving Steamax completely exposed.

Without giving Steamax a chance to react, Neptune stepped forward and impaled her katana into his stomach. "A-Agh..."

Steamax stumbled back and crumbled to the floor. He let out a breath and the console was released from his hold.

"I got it!" Compa quickly ran over and snatched the console back up before running back to us. "Look! I got it!"

"Good," IF smiled before turning to Steamax. "Now then, you're under arrest for stealing from the Basilicom."

Steamax forced himself back to his feet and pulled the blade from his stomach. "N-No... I-I can't lose that console..."

We took a step back and prepared ourselves. "I-Is he planning something?"

"You won't win!" Steamax claimed. "Sei!"

We recoiled back and shielded ourselves. However, nothing happened. "H-Huh?"

"F-Fall to your lust!"

We stared at the magazines scattered before us. "U-Um..." I stared between Steamax and the magazines. "A-Are you trying to kill us with words now?"

"H-Haha..." Steamax began to build up a laugh. "L-Look closely..."

"Closely...?" Neptune cautiously picked up one of the magazines. As she did so, she instantly threw it back down. "Ah!"

"Hm?" I stared at the girls; they all wore disgusted and flustered faces. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Neptune pointed towards one of the magazines open on a random page. "L-Look..."

"Huh?" I stared at the page. As I did, I instantly facepalmed. "You've got to be shitting me..."

Scattered on the floor were a bunch of porn magazines. Staring at them would be an honest disappointment. "Why...?"

IF glared at Steamax. "Why do you have all of these!?"

"These magazines won't work on me!" Neptune said. "I'll hone my mind so that I can only focus on that perverted ninja!"

As IF and I watched Neptune, she stole a glance at the magazines. IF also facepalmed. "Nep, I can't believe you're actually looking at those..."

Neptune's face grew red. "I-I'm not!"

"Then let's just close our eyes!" Compa suggested before closing her eyes. As she did so, she began to panic. "Iffy! I can't see! It's too dark!"

Steamax let out a laugh. "The Five Greed Jutsu is invincible!"

"Hold on," Neptune—who had been distracted by the magazines—got up in Steamax's face. "Didn't you say that you were scared of talking to girls?"

"I-I...U-Um..." Steamax began to stammer with his words.

Neptune smiled as she poked at Steamax's chest. "What would happen if a girl were to...touch you?"

"E-E...U-Uh..." Steamax remained at a loss of words as he started speaking gibberish.

Steamax started to backup, however, Neptune kept on him. "No, no, no. I want to know more about you... Isn't there anything you want to ask me...?" Neptune asked seductively.

"*# !)*&^%$#+*!" As Neptune pressed extremely close to him, Steamax let out a final gibberish sentence before passing out.

"Oh dear..." Neptune stared down at Steamax concernly.

"Nep, I think you took it too far," IF said.

Neptune let out a dry laugh. "Sorry, Iffy. I couldn't help myself."

As Neptune returned to her normal form, I stared at Steamax. "Poor robot..."

"Well, we got the console," IF let out a relieved sigh. "Let's get back to the Basilicom and forget about these dirty magazines."

Suddenly, an explosion somewhere made the arena tremor.

"W-What the!?" The four of us struggled to stay on our feet as the explosion subsided. "What was that!?"

"It appears something is attacking the city," Steamax suddenly said.

Upon hearing Steamax's voice, IF jumped back in surprise. "Woah! That was a fast recovery! Also, I didn't know you could hold a normal conversation."

"There's no time worry about that," Stemax said. "Right now, the city is in trouble. Hop on my back and I'll hurry us over to where the attack is happening!"

"Why are you doing this though?" IF asked.

"Oh! I know, Iffy!" Neptune claimed. "It's Sage Time! Y'know, Sage Time!"

If and I stared at Neptune, puzzled. "Neptune, what are you talking about?"

"Y'know, Sage Time!" Neptune repeated. "He must have realized his wrongs when he fainted. So he's been enlightened!"

"Please, we don't have much time," Steamax stated. "Hurry!"

I sighed. "What the hell? I got nothing to lose."

I jumped onto Steamax's back and looked back at the others. "You guys coming?"

IF and Neptune nodded before also hopping onto Steamax's back. I turned to Compa, who still had her eyes closed. "C'mon, Compa. We have to go."

* * *

"We made it!" The four of us hopped off Steamax's back and landed onto the streets.

After getting Compa to open her eyes, the five of us had hurried into the depths of Planeptune, where it was partially destroyed.

"Look, over there!" Neptune pointed ahead of us.

"Woah..." I stared at the sight with a strange sense of awe.

There was a rat that seemed to resemble Warechu to an extent. Differences were that the rat was six times bigger—making it half the size of an Ancient Dragon, it had two of Warechu's tails and a pair of crimson demon wings. It's body was now made up of a black fur with glowing red bits and it had a pair of glowing blue eyes.

"I-Is that Warechu?!" I asked, pointing at the rat.

Neptune shook her head. "Man, he really took that rejection hard..."

"Look over there though," IF nodded to another part of the streets.

"T-That's..." Neptune stared at B-Sha in shock.

I nodded. "Yeah, and she's in that Gold Form. Just like when you last fought her."

B-Sha was in her Gold Form—the form she had used to defeat Neptune back at the arena. However, she was attacking the citizens, shooting out blast after blast from her bazooka. "All of you damn monsters will die!"

"What's wrong with B-Sha?" Compa asked.

"I believe she is hypnotized," Steamax said. "I'll take care of that rat. You four work on stopping B-Sha."

We all nodded and the four of us dashed towards B-Sha. "B-Sha!"

"Huh? More damn monsters!" B-Sha snarled and glared at us through her piercing golden eyes. "Just die already!"

"Look out!" I pulled the girls out of the way as B-Sha fired a rocket at us, barely evading the explosion.

Neptune activated her HDD form and approached B-Sha. "B-Sha, please! Come to your senses! Look at all of the children!"

B-Sha continued to glare at us. "Shut up, you monsters! You're the reason that kids have to suffer!"

I sighed. "Neptune, talking won't work. We'll have to beat her out of her trance."

Neptune sighed. "I know. I figured it would be worth a shot at least..."

B-Sha growled at us. "I'll destroy all you monsters!"

Neptune and I materialized our blades while Compa and IF pulled out their weapons. Neptune stared at B-Sha. "Hang on, B-sha. We'll save you..."

"Just die!" B-Sha shot out several rockets from her bazooka.

"Haaa!" Neptune flew forward, avoiding the rockets and chopping them up along the way.

As the rockets blew up behind her, Neptune lunged towards B-Sha and slashed down at her.

B-Sha then stepped to the side and used her bazooka to knock the katana from Neptune's hands.

B-Sha took advantage of Neptune's opening and punched Neptune in the gut. Following that, she kicked Neptune away, crashing her into a building. B-Sha then fired another rocket towards Neptune's position.

I quickly dashed towards the rocket and created an energy barrier, negating the explosion.

As I did so, Compa thrusted her syringe towards B-Sha's back. B-Sha quickly jumped away and knocked Compa away by hitting her with the side of her bazooka.

Before B-Sha could retract her weapon, IF came down from above and slashed at B-Sha.

However, B-Sha knocked one of the katar blades away with her bazooka, suddenly changing IF's direction of attack. Following that, B-Sha's eye sphere fired a golden beam at IF, knocking her to the ground.

As IF was blown away, I slowed down time and sprinted towards B-Sha. Time resumed as I reached B-Sha and I slashed at her.

B-Sha then jumped back and evaded my attack. While I was left open, B-Sha's eye sphere fired a beam at me.

I quickly dropped to the ground and watched the beam zoom past me. As the light past me, B-Sha lunged towards me.

I quickly jumped back to my feet and slashed at her as B-Sha approached. However, she smacked at my blade and knocked the weapon out of my hands.

In an instant, I felt an immense force hit my gut and knock the wind out of me as B-Sha slammed her fist into my gut. Following that, B-Sha kicked me away, causing me to crash into a building.

"Gh..." While my body recovered, I forced myself out of the rubble and watched Neptune drag herself towards B-Sha.

"Stop trying to fight! Just let yourself die!" B-Sha shouted towards Neptune.

"N-No..." Neptune continued to force herself towards B-Sha. "B-Sha... I'll save you..."

"Just die!" B-Sha dashed to Neptune and swung a hook at her face.

"Agh!" Neptune fell down to the ground. However, she forced herself back up. "N-No... I won't give up..."

"Why don't you just die already!?" B-Sha shouted as she began repeatedly pummeling Neptune. As she continued to punch at Neptune's face, tears slowly began to form in the corner of B-Sha's eyes. "W-Why is a monster making me cry!?"

"B-Sha..." Neptune caught B-Sha's hand and stared at her. "B-Sha, please, come to your senses..."

"STOP TALKING LIKE THAT!" B-Sha shouted. "STOP TRYING TO LIE TO ME! YOU'RE A MONSTER!"

"B-Sha... if we're really monsters, then why haven't we killed you yet?" Neptune asked.

"…!" B-Sha's eyes widened in realization. "I-I..."

"B-Sha...open your eyes..." Neptune coughed out. "C-Can't you hear the cries...of the people...of the...children?"

"T-The children..." B-Sha put down her raised fists and listened.

"H-Help! Please!"

"WAHHH! MOMMY!"

"P-Please! Save us!"

"T-The children..." B-Sha stared at the injured people—who she had thought were monsters. "I-I'm..."

Suddenly, a white light shined from B-Sha, building my vision. The light faded away and revealed B-Sha, back in her normal form.

B-Sha blinked and stared at Neptune. "Nep-Nep... Thank you, and... I'm sorry..."

Neptune forced herself to smile. "I-It's...fine... I'm just glad you're alright..."

B-Sha nodded. "Y-Yeah..."

"Hey... It's okay to be afraid of monsters," Neptune said. "Even I am..."

B-Sha sniffled. "B-But..."

Neptune smiled. "You just have to accept your fears, not hide from them..."

B-Sha nodded and wiped away her tears. "Y-Yeah... I'll try..."

I smiled and began dragging myself to Neptune while Compa bandaged herself and IF's wounds.

B-Sha stepped away and Neptune forced a smile when she saw me. "H-Hey..."

I nodded and knelt at her side as I began to heal her. "You alright, Neptune?"

Neptune let out a chuckle. "I've never felt more embarrassed in my life..."

I smiled and pressed my lips lightly against her forehead. "Does that kissy booboo make you feel better?"

Neptune grew a light blush and turned away. "That made me feel even more embarrassed..."

I smiled as I finished healing Neptune and helped her to her feet. I then turned to everyone as we all gathered together. "IF, Compa, are you two alright?"

Compa nodded. "Yup! I patched up Iffy's wounds!"

"Agh!"

We all turned to see Steamax fall to the ground at the mutant Warechu's feet. "Chuuu!"

"Crap!" We ran towards Steamax. I knelt at his side. "Hey, are you alright?"

"H-He's so strong..." Steamax coughed out. "I-I'm sorry..."

I got back to my feet and stared Warechu.

"CHUUU!"

"Eek!" B-Sha tensed up upon seeing Warechu.

Neptune stared at B-Sha. "B-Sha, if it's too much, then—"

B-Sha shook her head and, pulling out her Presto Mask, chucked it away. "No. I will fight! I'm tired of running away and wearing a mask! I have to do this with my own strength!"

Neptune nodded and stepped up to B-Sha's side. "Then I'll take that first step with you, B-Sha!"

B-Sha nodded and a golden light enveloped her. When the light disappeared, B-Sha was in her Gold Form.

I let my Devil's energy run through my body and we readied our weapons. "Let's do this!"

At my words, Neptune and B-Sha charged towards Warechu.

"CHUUU!"

Noticing them, Warechu's two tails shot towards them.

Neptune quickly sliced off both of the tails and allowed B-Sha to continue. B-Sha raised her fist and smashed it down towards Warechu.

B-Sha smashed him into the ground before Warechu quickly recovered and flew up into the air. B-Sha's eye sphere then shot a beam at Warechu's wings, causing Warechu to begin to fall down.

B-Sha then used her bazooka and shot out several rockets at Warechu. The explosion blew Warechu to the ground and destroyed his wings.

"CHUU!"

"It's time for you to die!"

B-Sha materialized a bulky robot in front of her and hopped into it. As she strapped herself in, the robot charged towards Warechu.

"CHUU!"

Warechu then shot out several balls of energy at the robot.

Before the blasts could hit B-Sha's robot, the three of us stepped in.

IF knocked the blasts away. Doing so, Warechu shot out a beam of energy from his mouth. I then stepped forward and negated the beam with a barrier.

Before Warechu could shoot out anything else, Neptune drove her blade into Warechu's mouth and Compa stabbed her syringe into his mouth. We all then jumped away and allowed B-Sha's robot to assualt Warechu.

The robot smashed it's fists into Warechu and pounded him to the ground. The robot then stepped back and shot out a beam from it's chest while two eye spheres also shot out beams of energy.

Upon impact, the beams blew up and caught Warechu in the blast.

"CHUUUU!"

The explosion eventually faded away and it left Warechu back in his original form. Neptune and B-Sha reverted back to their normal forms. "D-Did we do it?"

Neptune nodded and smiled at B-Sha. "Yup, you did it, B-Sha!"

B-Sha formed a wide smile. "Yay! Thanks for your help, Nep-Nep!"

"What's going on?" Histoire asked as she suddenly flew over to us. She stared at the destroyed area and us. "H-Huh?"

"Histy, what are you doing here?" Neptune asked.

"I came here, thinking that the mess was still going on," Histoire explained. "But apparently you guys have already solved it."

"Ugh..." Warechu began to rise. "W-What happened?"

"Don't you dare move!' IF held a knife at Warechu's throat.

"H-Hey! What's going on!?" Warechu asked in a panic.

IF nodded towards the area. "You're the one responsible for this mess!"

"H-Hold on! It wasn't me!" Warechu said. "Some creepy broad made me black out and I woke up here, I swear!'

"Warechu, maybe we could work a deal," Histoire proposed.

Warechu stared at Histoire. "What kind of deal?"

"I would like you to help me with my research into the delusional monsters," Histoire stated. "In exchange, you can stay at the Basilicom and have meals prepared by Compa."

Hearing Compa's name, Warechu perked up. "You got yourself a deal!"

"Oh yeah!" I turned to where Steamax had been. However, he was now gone. "H-He's gone..."

"Oh shoot!" Neptune let out a moan.

"Nep, what's wrong?" IF asked.

Neptune let out a dry laugh. "I think I lost that console while we were fighting..."

IF let out a sigh. "That means that ninja took it..."

I shrugged. "Whatever. At least we saved the city and helped B-Sha got over her fears."

IF shrugged. "I guess so..."

Neptune nodded. "Alright! Then let's keep improving my awesomeness in Planeptune!"

I nodded as we all returned to the Basilicom. _I wonder how everyone else is doing..._

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This is the end of the super long chapter. However, it is also the end of Neptune's story. Next, we'll be moving onto Noire's story. But her story will be written in third person, her POV or Uni's just because I don't have any OC placed there. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **What was the first console you ever played?**


	142. Chapter 142

Chapter 142

 **Third Person POV**

Shortly after Noire had hung up her call with the other CPUs, she had began travelling to a nearby city. Along the way, she had found Uni. So, the two of them journeyed to the city together. However, as they arrived there, the guards there had attempted to arrest Noire, claiming she had kidnapped Uni and was part of the secret organization, AffimaX. When she told them she was a CPU, the guards had barked back that her existent as being a CPU was a crime itself.

So, the two of them fled the city, millions of thoughts racing through their brains. Eventually, the two of them were cornered into an alley. There, Noire had made Uni go with the guards while she caught them off guard and slipped past them.

For several hours, Noire ran and hid from the guards pursuing her, finding a friendly white kitten along the way. Eventually, Noire had escaped them. However, as she was getting ready to leave, she heard a scream. Running to the source, she discovered her pursuiters being attacked by a large fish-like monster.

Noire had allowed the guards to get escape before she defeated the monster. After barely defeating the monster, Noire took the chance to escape any guards that were still pursuing after her.

As Noire reached Lastation's capital city, she fainted. When she woke up she found herself in a hotel room, tucked in a bed and wrapped in bandages. A second later, a girl walked in—the same black haired girl Noire had bumped into when she was chasing after Neptune. She introduced herself as K-Sha.

K-Sha then went on to explain that she had dragged Noire to the hotel room—K-Sha's room, and had bandaged her up. She then gave an explanation of how the four golden towers were called the Golden Summits and how the Golden Summits were the source of power for the Gold Third, the rulers of the nations that came after the CPUs. However, the Gold Third of Lastation was currently away, so the organizations of Lastation were currently fighting over rule.

After hearing K-Sha's explanation, Noire was about to leave but was forced to stay due to her injuries. K-Sha then proposed that Noire stayed with her until her injuries healed. Relunctantly, Noire agreed and they went off to shop for supplies.

However, as they finished shopping, K-Sha remembered that the last thing she needed were medicine ingredients. But they could only be found in the woods. So Noire had decided to go to the forest to gather ingredients for K-Sha. Upon returning with the ingredients, Noire found K-Sha sitting on her bed. Though, seeing that Noire had returned safely, K-Sha's worried expression quickly disappeared.

A few days passed and Noire's injuries had nearly healed. On her way home from shopping one day, Noire saw a crowd gathered around. As she approached, she found K-Sha with a crowd of people, talking about a dangerous, strong monster in the woods. Hearing this, Noire decided to go fight the monster, ignoring K-Sha's pleads.

Arriving in the area in the woods where the monster was supposed to be, Noire found the Lastation guards—who had been chasing after her—struggling to keep the monster at bay. This time, it was a dark unicorn creature. Reluctantly, the guards left and allowed Noire to fight the monster. As the fight began, the monster quickly began to assault Noire, leaving her without any openings to attack.

However, an unknown shot sniped the monster's vital point and left it open, allowing Noire to quickly defeat it. After nearly losing, Noire returned to K-Sha, wondering who had shot at the monster. As Noire returned to Lastation, the people all thanked her for defending their city. Though their thanks were interrupted when Lastation guards stormed into the area, looking for Noire.

But K-Sha quickly hid Noire and tried to cover for her. However, Noire stepped in and allowed the guards to arrest her before any of the citizens got hurt, leaving K-Sha behind.

A few hours later, Noire had ended up in a jail cell while Uni was trying to figure out how to break her out.

* * *

 **Noire's POV**

I let out a sigh. "At least K-Sha's safe..."

I sat on the cold, metal floors and leaned against the wall. "How long have I been in here though...?"

"Hey, have you heard the news?" A guard's voice echoed.

"Hm?" Curious, I snuck over to the bars of the jail cell. I peeked my head out and noticed two guards standing there, chatting. "What are they talking about?"

"Aren't you excited?" One of the guards asked. "Soon, Lastation will be the top nation!"

The other guard nodded. "Yeah, but I don't like the way we're doing it."

The guard nodded. "Yeah. Sending those monsters to attack other nations is smart, but it's also really stupid."

"Yeah, more of our soldiers keep dying. They're becoming too hard to contain," the other guard said.

Upon realization, I balled up my fist. "Those bastards..."

The guards' plan had never been to get rid of those monsters attacking. It had been to let them run amuck and destroy. However, the monsters had become too unstable, and the guards couldn't control them. "They're planning a war, aren't they?"

"By the way, who is the new leader who decided to do this anyways?" The first guard asked.

The second guard let out a sigh. "To think that you wouldn't even know the name of the superior to your superiors..."

The first guard let out a sigh. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? Can you please just tell me?"

The second guard shrugged. "Yeah, but you better remember it. It's—urk!"

"THE HELL!? A tranquilizer dart!?"

"H-Huh?" While I listened to the conversation, I heard the guard's voice suddenly stop before he crumpled to the floor.

"Who's there?! Show yoursel—Agh!"

In the next second, I heard the sound of a dart speed through the wind and stab into the other guard's nape.

"…" I held my breath as everything suddenly went quiet. It was then that I heard footsteps hurrying towards me.

"Noire!" Uni suddenly appeared and unlocked the jail door.

"U-Uni!?" I stared at my younger sister in disbelief. "H-How did you get in here?!"

Uni shook her head. "I'll explain later. Right now, let's just get the hell out of here!"

I nodded and quickly followed Uni out the way she had come from. As we got out of the Basilicom, we continued to run until we were in a back alley, sure that nobody had followed us.

I let out a breath before turning my head to Uni. "Uni, thanks for saving me! I knew I could count on you!"

Uni let out a giggle. "That's what I'm for!"

I nodded before quickly embracing a serious tone. "Uni, this may sound crazy to you, but I'm going to have to go back into the Basilicom."

"E-EH!?" Uni stared at me with a look of disbelief. "B-But Noire, we barely just escaped! Why would you ever want to go back?! You're a wanted criminal!"

I shook my head. "Whoever is now leading Lastation is planning on starting a war with the other nations and is sending out monsters to destroy the other nations."

Uni bit her lip. For the years I've known my younger sister, I've always known that she would at least consider what I said before making a decision.

For a few seconds, Uni remained deep in thought before letting out a heavy sigh. "Fine, I'll go with you, just in case you run into any trouble."

I smiled back at Uni. "Thanks, Uni."

Uni stared at me curiously though. "But Noire, how are we going to get in? Are we really going to storm in through the front doors?"

I chuckled. "Uni, I'm not that dumb; there's a secret way that leads directly into the Basilicom. Only I know about it!"

Uni stared back at me with a confused look. "N-Noire, why would you ever create something like that...?"

I grinned. "Because I thought it would be interesting! Now, follow me!"

After Uni let out a sigh, she followed me towards the secret passageway.

* * *

"Here we are," I pushed the grate open and moved it to the side, allowing Uni and I to climb to the surface.

As I pulled myself up and helped Uni up, Uni stared at the passageway in shock. "I never knew that place existed..."

I shrugged while I searched around the room. "It doesn't matter. Just help me look for any documents that look important."

"Halt!" While the two of us searched, a booming voice caused us to freeze and look over at the doorway. Standing there was a purple-haired woman wearing gray robes and thin glasses. Seeing us, she smiled. "Ah. It's Lastation's CPU and her little sister..."

I stared at her in disbelief. "Wait, you actually remember us!?"

The woman nodded. "I do. You're the CPU of Lastation, Black Heart," she nodded towards Uni. "And you're her younger sister, the CPU Candidate of Lastation..."

"What the hell are you even doing in here!?" Uni barked at the lady.

In response, she smiled. "I'm simply just a staff member of the Basilicom now, thanks to the Gold Third's disappearance..."

Uni's eyes suddenly widened. "W-Wait! That mean you're..."

A smirked crossed the purple-haired woman's face. "Looks like you've figured it out..."

I turned back to Uni. "Uni, do you know this person?"

Uni shook her head but glared at the woman. "She's part of a mercenary group known as the Order. They basically just sold people weapons and themselves for war!"

"You're right..." I admitted as I took a closer look at the woman's attire, consisting of the Order's logo. "Then if that's the case, may I ask why you're trying to release monsters out to attack other nations? Are you trying to start a war!?"

The Order member frowned. "You're a relic of the past that nobody remembers. I don't have to answer you..."

I drew in a breath. "Then I'm guessing I'm right... But I thought your organization broke up."

The Order woman sneered. "Our surviving members created a new Order."

"You'll be caught dead once we tell the people!" Uni said.

"Really?" The Order member chuckled. "Guards! Intruders!"

Suddenly, several guards surrounded the room. The Order member smiled at us. "Neither of you hold power anymore! You two are nothing more than criminals now!"

Uni shook her head. "Like I give a damn! I could take these—"

Before Uni could finish speaking, I grabbed a hold of her wrist. "Uni, don't hurt them They're still citizens."

Uni stared up at me with a confused look. "B-But..."

I shook my head. "For now, let's retreat!"

I quickly pulled her along with me back down into the passageway and ran. As much as I hated the idea of it, I didn't want to hurt any Lastation citizens.

After emerging back to the surface and escaping the guards, we both sat down on the dirty, concrete ground of the narrow alleyway. While I caught my breath, Uni stared up at me. "Noire, what are we going to do now?"

I sighed and rubbed at my temple. "For starters, we definitely can't return to the Basilicom. Instead, let's take out their monsters by doing quests at the guild."

Uni nodded. "Alright."

Hearing Uni's approval, I smiled and pushed myself back up to my feet. "Then let's get going..."

* * *

I sighed as we reached the guild. "Well, we're here..."

"Noire!?" I whirled my head around and saw K-Sha. "Noire! It's really you!"

I smiled at her as she ran up to us. "K-Sha? What are you even doing here?"

"I thought that coming to the guild would help me find you," K-Sha said. "But how did you escape?"

I nodded to Uni. "Well, this is my little sister, Uni. She helped break me out."

"Wow, I didn't know you had a little sister..." K-Sha murmured.

I scratched at the back of my head. "Sorry, I guess the opprotunity just never came up for me to explain..."

K-Sha smiled. "Well, it's good to meet you, Uni!" She stuck out her hand to Uni.

Uni nodded and happily shook her hand. "You too!"

While I watched the two of them exchange introductions, Uni turned to me. "Hey, Noire. Who is this girl anyways?"

I shrugged. "Just a friend."

"H-HUH!?" Uni stared at me with a look that seemed to say that I was crazy. "Y-You have a friend?!"

I frowned at Uni. "What's so surprising about that!? I can have friends!"

"Y-Yeah, I guess..." Uni let out a dry laugh. "Sorry, I was so used to Neptune's reaction..."

"Anyways, Noire, what are you doing here?" K-Sha asked.

I crossed my arms. "Well, Uni and I were going to do some quests to see if we could kill any of those monsters that had been causing trouble for the city. You know, like those monsters that appeared in the woods."

K-Sha stared at me. "Then, can I come?"

I sighed and shook my head. "Sorry, K-Sha. I can't risk you getting injured."

K-Sha bowed her head. "B-But..."

I placed my hands onto her shoulder, causing her to look back up at me. "How about this then? You can help us gather information about these monsters. Besides, we need anything we can get anyways."

Satisfied, K-Sha nodded. "Okay! I'll do my best, Noire!"

I smiled. "I'm counting on you, K-Sha."

As K-Sha smiled, I turned back to Uni. "Alright, let's take the best looking quest and start there!"

Uni shrugged. "Sure."

As we took the quest and began to walk towards the woods, K-Sha ran off to somewhere, supposedly to gather information.

* * *

A hour later, we had returned to the guild, having beaten the quest. However, nothing interesting had been found. "Well, that time was wasted..."

Uni sighed. "Yeah, it was such a waste of time..."

"Noire, Noire!" Reaching the guild's doors, K-Sha came running towards us. "I found out something!"

"Really!?" I stared at her in disbelief.

K-Sha nodded. "There's currently a monster attacking the subway stations right now!"

I flashed K-Sha a warm smile. "Thanks, K-Sha! You did really well!"

"I-It was nothing..." K-Sha murmured as she blushed a bit.

"Well, let's hurry over there!" I said.

K-Sha and Uni both nodded and followed me towards the subway station. Arriving there, we discovered a large crowd of people gathered around the entrance.

"It's terrible!" A man said. "There are still people trapped in there!"

"What are the soldiers doing?!" A woman asked.

"They're all in there with a rescue team," an old man responded. "However, no word has been heard back from them."

I balled up my fists. "What have my soldiers been doing!?" I turned back to Uni. "Uni, let's go!"

Uni gave a firm nod. "Alright!"

"W-Wait, Noire!" I turned to see K-Sha tugging on my sleeve. "C-Can I come with you?"

I smiled back at K-Sha. "K-Sha, I want you to stay out here. I want you to stay safe, alright?"

A sad expression crossed K-Sha's face, but she nodded and loosened her grip on my sleeve. "Alright..."

I then spun back and ran down into the subway with Uni. As we reached the bottom of the staircase, a soldier stepped in front of us. "Hold it! You're not allowed to pass!"

"Yeah? Well I'm here to actually defeat that monster and save those people trapped in there, unlike you!" I snapped back at him.

I saw his eyebrows twitch for a second. "It doesn't matter! Plus, you're that criminal, Noire! I could capture you here right now!"

I gritted my teeth. "I don't have time to deal with your nonsense!"

"Gah!" I kicked the soldier down and we ran past him.

"Noire! I thought you said that we couldn't harm anyone!" Uni said while we ran.

I shook my head. "It was an emergency this time. Clearly, those soldiers weren't going to do anything! Let's just hurry and save those people!"

Uni nodded and ran close behind me towards where the cries were coming from.

"AGH!" Arriving at the scene, we watched as a soldier crashed to the floor.

I stared up at the monster. It was a grotesque monster floating in the air. It had a large, thumping blue heart and it's body and face were attached above it. Also, it's arms had laser cannons mounted to the sides of them.

"What are you guys doing?!" I barked at the two remaining soldiers. "Hurry and get these people out of here!"

"H-Huh?" The guards and citizens snapped their heads to me. "Y-You're that wanted criminal, Noire!"

"Yeah? And what about it?" I questioned.

"What are you doing here!?" One of the guards asked.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to help you guys evacuate and take out that monster!" I stated.

The citizens shot me dirty looks. "You're lying! The second we turn our back on you, you'll raid this place and kill us!"

"Who do you think we are?!" Uni questioned. "We're trying to save you and all you can think about is how terrible we are!"

The soldiers shook their heads. "No! You can't be trusted! We're going to arrest you!"

I watched as Uni shot them piercing glares and balled up a fist. "Why you—"

"Alright then," I stepped forward. "If you want to capture me so badly, then you can do it right now."

"H-Huh?!" The soldiers and citizens stared at me with looks of disbelief.

"You can capture me if you want," I repeated. "But only if you let us defeat this monster and get the citizens up to safety first."

For a moment, the soldiers were at a loss for words. But a few seconds later, they exchanged nods and turned back to me. "Alright. We'll let you take out the monster... Thank you..."

I nodded as Uni stepped up to my side. "Uni, let's transform!"

"Right!" Uni stared down the monster.

The two of us entered our HDD forms and—while I materialized my black sword, Uni materialized her beam cannon.

"GROAH!"

"H-Huh?" Before either of us could take aim on the monster, a shot was fired towards it's heart, leaving it temporarily paralyzed.

"W-Who did that...?" Uni wondered.

I shook my head and quickly took a stance. "Who cares!? This provides us with the opening we need to take down this thing!"

As I shot towards the monster, I watched as several of Uni's bullets sped passed me and hit the monster's vital spots.

"Take this!"

While the monster was left open, I boosted my speed towards it. In an instant, I performed multiple slashes on it before flying by.

I turned back to Uni. "Uni! Finish it off!"

"I got it!" Uni said as she fired a beam from her cannon.

"GROAAGH!" As the beam came in contact with the monster, it expanded and consumed the monster, vaporizing it.

I landed back onto the floor and Uni and I reverted back to our original forms. "We did it!"

"Alright," the soldiers approached us.

I sighed and held out my hands. "Alright, you can take me..."

The soldiers let out chuckles. "We're not taking you to jail. We're letting you lead us back up."

"H-Huh?" I stared at them with disbelief. "B-But..."

The citizens smiled. "You two were real heroes! You saved us! How can we think of you as a criminal after that?!"

Happy, I smiled and nodded. "Alright, I'll lead you back up. Uni, you take the back; I'll take the front."

I watched as the soldiers and citizens formed a line behind me before I began leading them back up. As I reached the surface, the people stared at me with bewilderment.

I emerged back up with the people behind me. "It's done. The monster is dead and your people are safe."

"She did it! She saved them!" A citizen exclaimed.

"YEAH!" The crowd roared with cheers.

The soldiers turned to me. "Really, thank you. If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have been able to survive. Thank you. We'll inform the others to not see you two as criminals, but as heroes."

I nodded at them. "Thank you..."

"Noire!" As I watched the people roar with cheers, K-Sha came running up to me. "You did it!"

I formed a smile as she came bounding up to me. "Yep, we did it!"

As Uni regrouped with us, a lady came up to us. "Excuse me, Noire, was it? If I may have the honor, would you three like to stay in the best suites my hotel has to offer?"

I quickly nodded. "We would be delighted to."

She returned my smile. "Alright. Follow me and I shall go get your room keys. Once again, thank you!"

I nodded as we followed the lady to her hotel.

* * *

 **Uni's POV**

"Man, yesterday was such a weird day..." I let out a sigh as I walked down the Lastation streets. "Noire was acting so strange..."

Yesterday, Noire had told me of the kitten that she had found, who had been named Blanc by K-Sha. Afterwards, since K-Sha was feeling a bit sick, Noire let K-Sha rest while she went out to gather information. However, when I came into K-Sha's room, I found Noire sitting at K-Sha's side.

Noire explained that she had been worried about K-Sha, so she had hurried home to check on her. She then told me that we were going to go out and gather info together. However, Noire had instead dragged me around the city to do couple-like things.

Although I had rolled with it, Noire had continued to do it the whole afternoon. Eventually, she had dashed away and left me alone. When I found her again, I decided that spending a bit more time bonding with her wouldn't be such a bad idea. So, I tried the things she had just done with me. However, she seemed completely weirded out by it.

I let out a sigh. "In the end, I just got even more embarrassed..."

To try to forget about that weird experience, I had gone to buy a drink. On my way to the store, I had met a purple robot—named Jiro, with the weird antique cord from the Basilicom's basement. When I had questioned him about it, he had simply replied that he was returning it to the Basilicom and that he was afraid of talking to girls. I had decided to believe him and shrug it off.

However, when I had reached the convenient store later, I had discovered Jiro in there, reading off in a corner. Curious, I had glanced at what he was reading. Apparently, he had been reading one of those Bara Bear articles. Although I found it weird, I didn't mind since Jiro seemed like a pretty good person.

The elevator door opened and I began my walk to my room. "And that brings us to now..."

"Hey, Uni," K-Sha appeared behind me. "Can you come to my room? I need your help with something."

I shrugged. "Sure, I don't mind."

I followed K-Sha to her room. As I entered, she clicked the door close behind her. I stared at her. "So, what did you need help with?"

"Well..." She suddenly whipped out a pair of semi-automatic pistols. She shot a bullet that barely missed my face.

"H-Huh!?"

She glared at me coldly and raised the pair of pistols. "Die..."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This marks the end of the first chapter of Noire's story. The second part should be up by the time you're reading this and you can read how this story ends. Anyways, this story will be a bit shorter than the rest because this story honestly isn't that long. To me, Neptune's story was the longest of the four stories. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Are you an only child or do you have any siblings? If so, how many?**


	143. Chapter 143

Chapter 143

"Die," K-Sha aimed both of the pistols at my face.

"W-WHAT!?" I stared back at K-Sha with a look mixed with confusion and terror.

As K-Sha began firing bullets at me, I quickly took cover behind a bed. The bullets stopped and I peeked my head back up. "WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME!?"

However, K-Sha continued to glare at me and took aim once again. "Just hold still and let me kill you!"

Before K-Sha could unload another set of rounds aimed at my face, Noire walked in. She froze upon seeing the sight in front of her. "U-Um, what's going on?"

I watched as K-Sha turned to Noire. "Noire, I'm eliminating that obstacle that's standing in between our relationship. Don't worry, I'll end it real fast!"

"K-Sha, why are you attacking Uni?!" Noire asked as she stepped in front of me.

"Like I said, I'm removing the obstacle that is standing between our relationship," K-Sha raised her guns and locked eyes with me. "Now, please move, Noire."

"K-Sha, I'm not going to let you kill Uni!" Noire said sternly. "Now stop!"

"Yeah...you're right..." K-Sha lowered her pair of pistols and smiled at Noire. "I won't kill her now... Actually, I'll have a duel with her..."

"H-Huh?!" I stared at K-Sha with disbelief. "Y-You're joking, right!?"

K-Sha ignored my question and continued to speak. "We'll have the duel on the top floor of the Golden Summit. Noire, you can watch us fight for your love. Whoever wins, gets you!"

"Hey, K-Sha—"

"I'll be waiting, Noire..." Before Noire could chase after K-Sha, she crashed through the window and began falling towards the ground.

"…" The two of us watched as she landed before beginning her walk towards the Golden Summit.

Noire turned to face me. "Uni, what was all that about?"

I was at an honest loss for words. "I-I don't know... K-Sha asked me to come into her room and then she began firing bullets at me!"

Noire let out a sigh. "Well, I guess it can't be helped. We have to go to the Golden Summit..."

"Are you sure, Noire?" I asked while the cold wind blew against us.

In response, she nodded. "We have no other choice. Plus, I might have a plan as to how to help her..."

I let out a groan. "Alright..."

"Still, I wonder why she chose the top of the Golden Summit..." Noire murmured as her arms crossed.

I shook my head. "There's no point in wasting time thinking about that right now," I pulled on Noire's hand. "Come on. Let's go."

* * *

 **Noire's POV**

"This place really is strange..." I commented as we reached the top level. I stared down. "How can a place like this even exist...?"

Uni and I had climbed to the top floor of the Golden Summit, just as K-Sha had instructed of us to do. However, what bothered me about the interior of the Golden Summit was how it was designed. When we had entered, it was as if we had entered an entirely different place.

The inside seemed to be it's own space with floating, glass-like, transparent black platforms. Besides that, there was nothing but the spatial void around and the occasional monsters. Not only that, but the gravity was lighter, making everything weigh less.

"This is such a weird place..." Uni muttered.

"So, you've come, Noire..." K-Sha suddenly appeared behind us. "I've waited here, just as I said I would..."

I wore a serious expression and stared at K-Sha. "K-Sha, why are you doing this?"

As K-Sha pulled out her dual pistols, a shadow casted over her eyes and she glared coldly at Uni. "Because, if I get rid that obstacle, we can be together forever, nobody to get in our love! Noire, I love you!"

"H-Huh?" For a second, I stared blankly at K-Sha. I shook the words out of my head. "W-Whatever! If that's how you want it, then fight me instead."

"H-Huh?" K-sha stared at me with a confused look. "B-But...N-Noire—"

I cut her off. "If you really want me so badly, then you can have me if you can defeat me."

"R-Really...?" K-Sha formed a sly smile. "Alright, I'll go all out then..."

I nodded before a golden light washed over K-Sha's figure. As the light faded away, K-Sha was in the form she had been in when I had fought her during the arena match. This was likely her true power.

I smiled. "I see... Then I guess I better get serious too!"

I let the bright white light envelope my body as I felt the warm energy pulsing into me. The white light faded away and I stood there in my HDD form. I then followed up by materializing my large sword.

K-Sha stared at me with her piercing golden eyes. She raised her pair of golden pistols. "Noire, I'll win. That way, we can be together forever!"

I tightened my grip on my handle. "K-Sha, I'll bring you back to your senses..."

In an instant, K-Sha raised one of her guns and began firing bullets towards me.

I flew to the side of the bullets and dashed towards K-Sha.

K-Sha snapped her gun's positioning and shifted the bullets back to me.

This time, I flew into the air, only for the bullets to follow. As I flew to the side once again, K-Sha raised her other pistol and began firing at me with both firearms.

Seeing no other options, I raised my sword and began to deflect the high-speed bullets. The sounds of the glass floor shattering sounded into my ears while I struggled to deflect the oncoming bullets.

After being scatched by a few bullets while I had stuggled to deflect them, K-Sha's clips ran out.

While she reloaded efficiently, I took the opening and threw my blade at her.

K-Sha roundhouse kicked the sword away and spun back, guns aimed at where I was.

However, as she took aim, I appeared in front of her and slammed my fist against the side of her jaw. She crumpled to the floor, still holding her guns.

As I lunged towards her, K-Sha kicked back up to her feet and headbutted me.

I stumbled back but quickly recovered as K-Sha raised both of her guns and began firing bullets at me once again.

I rolled to the side, materializing another blade as I landed on my feet. Before the bullets reached my position, I boosted towards K-Sha.

As I did so, she jumped back and her aim snapped to me.

Before she could pull the trigger, I quickly materialized another sword and threw both of them at K-Sha, knocking her pistols from her hands.

While K-Sha was left open, I sped towards her and lunged a fist at her once again.

This time, K-Sha grabbed a hold of my arm and locked it in place. While I struggled to escape the painful lock, K-Sha pulled me in and kneed me in the stomach.

Before I could recover from the wind being knocked out of me, she jabbed a punch at my face before kicking me away.

K-Sha followed me and got ready to kick me, I caught myself with my hands and pushed myself back up, catching K-Sha off guard.

This time, I headbutted her and—before she fell to the floor—grabbed her by the collar, slamming her to the floor.

As the breath was knocked from her, I jabbed a fist into her gut before using my other fist to jab at the side of her face again.

"Haaa... Haaa..." I stumbled back to my feet as I got off K-Sha. I watched as she forced herself back up. "K-Sha! …..Please...stop!"

"N-No..." K-Sha shook her bloodied face. "Not until you're mine, Noire..."

The two of us collapsed to the ground and reverted back to our normal forms. We then both forced ourselves back to our feet.

"Haaa...haa..."

"….Haaa..."

While the two of us panted heavily, our eyes locked.

"K-Sha... Stop...please..."

K-Sha shook her head. "N-No... You just won't notice me! You don't see me! T-That's why...I have to remove the obstacle...so that you can finally see me... I thought we were friends!"

"H-Huh?" My eyes widened at the realization. I let out a groan. "Okay, this is just stupid!"

"H-Huh?" K-Sha stared at me with a confused expression.

"K-Sha, you never wanted a real friendship. You just wanted something that was convenient for you," I said. "Maybe if you had thought about how I felt, we could be real friends, true friends!"

"T-True...friends...?" K-Sha quitely repeated the words.

I shook my head. "The way you are now, we can never be friends. Please, you can still save yourself!"

"H-H-How..." K-Sha crumpled to her knees. "How can I be your real friend, Noire!?"

"Come back to us, K-Sha," I dragged myself to K-Sha and extended my hand to her. "I'm your friend, and I'll help you through your problems. You don't have to be alone anymore..."

"O-Okay!" K-Sha nodded and took my hand. As I pulled her back up, she shook my hand.

"H-Hey, why are you shaking my hand?" I asked.

K-Sha smiled. "I'm shaking to being real friends now!"

I smiled. "Yeah, okay," I then nodded towards Uni. "But, K-Sha, could you please try to get along with Uni? She doesn't exactly hate you, so you could at least try to get along. It'd make me happy if you at least tried."

K-Sha let out a sigh. "I-I'll try..."

I gave a firm nod. "Good, then let's head back to the hotel! I have lots of questions for you."

"Yeah! B-But...N-Noire..." K-Sha tugged on my sleeve as I turned to head back. "Y-You still haven't answered my confession yet..."

"Answer your confession?" Turning back to her, I cocked my head. "What confession?"

"I confessed my love to you earlier..." K-Sha said as her cheeks began to blush. "And you haven't answered my confession yet..."

"U-Um..." I felt the blood rush to my head. "Y-Yeah, I-I like you too, K-Sha..."

At my answer, K-Sha's eyes sparkled and she clung herself to my arm. "Yay! Noire said yes!"

"I-I meant as friends..." I quickly added. But she was already lost in her own world. "H-Hey... Are you even still listening?"

"Let's go home together, Noire!" K-Sha said merrily as she began pulling me away with her.

"Y-Yeah, sure..." I turned back to Uni, who was staring back with a sympathetic expression. I let out a sigh as we all walked back to the hotel. "How did it come to this...?"

* * *

The three of us had returned to the hotel. The whole time, K-Sha had clung to my arm.

"Alright, K-Sha," Uni and I sat on one bed while K-Sha sat on the one directly across from us. Uni and I were staring at K-Sha. "K-Sha, can you explain what is really going on here?"

K-Sha nodded. "We're friends now. If we're going to be real friends, then I'll have to tell you the truth, starting from the very beginning."

I nodded. "Go on..."

K-Sha let out a sigh. "Well, to start, I used to be part of that Mercenary Order that is currently trying to rule over Lastation. Soon after I was born, they took me in and began raising me to be the perfect soldier, a killing machine. For years, I completed mission after mission assigned by them, never questioning my actions. But, one day, I saw a group of children around my age.

"It had made me curious. Was that what my life could have been like if I wasn't a killer? It was then that I began questioning the Order's decisions. Eventually, I left the order and started living a normal life. It was also around that time that I had acquired the Golden Power from climbing the Golden Summit with the other Gold Third members."

I gave a slight nod as I stared at K-Sha with an understanding expression. "So that form you were using really was the one you used when you first fought me, right?"

K-Sha nodded. "Yes. Right after the four of us had obtained the powers from the Golden Summit, we had gone down to test them. That was when we decided to test them against you four. However, we didn't expect to beat you all. But, as we did, that blinding flash happened. The next thing we knew, it was as if CPUs never existed and we, Gold Third, had always been the leaders of the nations.

"I became Lastation's Gold Third. But I quickly left that position and went on to live a normal life, letting the Basilicom handle the affairs," K-Sha bowed her head. "However, as you know, that didn't work out. The Order took control of the Basilicom and used it as a base of operations. Soon after you arrived, Noire, they offered me a new job."

I cocked my head. "A new job?"

K-Sha nodded quietly. "Yes," she swallowed hard. "That job was to kill you."

"…" I stared at K-Sha as she continued her explanation through tears.

"Of course, I refused this offer. I couldn't stand the thought of hurting you, Noire," K-Sha said. "But now that I have failed, they'll likely try to kill me."

"How would they do that?" Uni asked.

We watched as gold energy shined brightly from K-Sha's hands. "They won't go after me; they fear me. Instead, they'll destroy the Golden Summit's crystal—the source of my Golden Power..."

I sighed. "If they want you dead so badly, then they're probably already heading up there as we speak."

K-Sha nodded once again. "Probably..."

I stood up. "Well, Uni and I will go stop them."

K-Sha stared up at the both of us. "Then, let me come with you!"

I shook my head. "Sorry, K-Sha. I can't have you doing that. If you want to live a normal life, you can't pick up any weapons!"

"Y-Yeah..." K-Sha let out a sigh. "But can I at least come with you all to the Golden Summit? I promise I'll go after that..."

I turned to Uni. As she nodded, I shrugged. "Sure. But only to the gates."

K-Sha smiled and also stood up. "Then let's get going!"

* * *

After seeing K-Sha off at the front gates to the Golden Summit, Uni and I had climbed to the very top of the Golden Summit. There, we found a golden crystal, shining brightly and sitting on a tall pedestal. However, the purple-haired Order lady stood next to it with a titan-like robot.

"Well, if it isn't Lastation's CPU and CPU Candidate..." The Order lady smirked. "I've been expecting you both..."

"Step away from that crystal!" I barked as I pointed my blade at her. "Otherwise, you won't like what will happen next!"

"Heh," her grin widened. "I'd like to see you try. Against my Anti-CPU robot."

I tightened the grip on my blade. "I'll defeat it! That way, K-Sha can live a normal life, rid of you freaks! I don't care if it is meant to be an Anti-CPU robot! I'll crush it! Uni, let's go!"

"Right!" Uni nodded firmly.

The two of us were enveloped by light and emerged into our HDD forms. As my transformation finished, I dashed towards the robot while Uni followed closely behind, ready to fire.

A few meters away, the robot snapped it's attention to us and formed a pair of railgun turrets on it's back. It began to fire.

While the projectiles sped towards us with high speed, we evaded the attacks and continued flying towards it.

"HA!" I lunged forward and cut at one of the turrets.

However, as I sliced it off, one final projectile was fired at me from point-blank range.

The force of the impact sent me flying back. I quickly twisted my body and allowed myself to land onto the floor. Recovering, I dashed towards it's remaining turret.

I watched as Uni approached and shot several blasts of energy aimed at the turret. As the turret blew up, the robot charged towards Uni and—turning it's right arm into an energized blade—slashed at Uni.

Before the blow could strike her, I dashed forward and parried the strike. While the robot was left open, I nodded towards Uni.

Before the robot could recover, Uni leaped into the air and began rapidly firing blasts of energy at the robot. The blasts all caused the robot to be pushed back.

As Uni landed onto the floor, she positioned herself and fired a single shot at the robot, a blue light trailing the shot.

The blast hit the robot in it's thorax region and blew up, slamming the robot into the side of the crystal's pedestal.

While it was dazed, I charged forward and swiftly sliced it's head off. The head came off and—crashing to the floor—I smashed it with my heel.

As I did so, it's body crashed down to the floor.

I smirked as Uni walked to my side. "For a Anti-CPU robot, it certainly fails to live up to it's name! What a joke!"

"Heh," I looked back up at the Order lady. For some reason, she was smiling. "For once, I appreciate that cockiness of yours, Black Heart..."

"H-Huh?" I stared at her. "What are you talking about...?"

"I was prepared for this..." She pulled out a remote and pressed one of the button's on it.

"W-What the!?" Suddenly, a dark smoke shot out from the robot's body and surrounded us.

"Noire, cover your mouth!" Uni instructed. "Don't inhale it in!"

As I did as Uni instructed of me, the Order lady began to laugh. "It's useless! This smoke will kill anyone in it, no matter what!"

"Fine, if that's the case..." Uni quickly shoved me out of the smoke.

"UNI!" I watched in horror as the smoke began to form and seep into Uni. As it did so, Uni was kicked out of her HDD form and she crumpled to the floor.

I ran up to her and held her close. She was already drenching with sweat, her body felt as if it were on fire and she struggled to breath as her face paled. "D-DAMNIT!"

The Order lady continued to laugh. "Don't worry! You can soon join her! I have plenty more!"

While I stared at the lady in horror as she got ready to press another button, a tranquilizer dart suddenly stabbed into the side of her neck and her remote suddenly blew up. "A-Agh..."

As the Order lady crumpled to the floor, I spun to see K-Sha, the one who had fired the dart. "K-SHA!"

"What's wrong, Noire?" K-Sha asked as she ran up to me.

I nodded towards Uni. "It's Uni! She's been gassed! Please, help!"

K-Sha nodded. "Don't worry, I can fix this!"

I set Uni down as K-Sha began fiddling with some vials. "Please try to keep her conscious."

I nodded and squeezed at Uni's hand. "Uni..."

A second later, K-sha spun back to me, holding a thin, glass vial with a bubbling purple vial in it. "It's done!"

I nodded and quickly accepted the vial. I tipped it into Uni's mouth as I watched her struggle to swallow it.

"…"

A held my breath as I watched Uni. "Please..."

"N-Noire...?" I watched as Uni's eyes fluttered open while color returned to her skin.

"UNI!" I pulled her into a tight embrace. "I'm so sorry! I'll never leave you again!"

"H-Hey, Noire..." Uni quietly spoke. "Could you not hug me so tightly? It hurts right now..."

"S-Sorry!" I quickly pulled away and smiled at her. "I'm just glad you're okay..."

Uni nodded. "Y-Yeah..."

"N-Noire..." We snapped out attention to K-Sha. A dark energy was rising out of her as her body twitched uncontrollably. "Noire... The answer was so simple, wasn't it?"

"K-K-Sha, what's wrong?" We stood back up and I began to approach K-Sha.

"All I have to do to get Noire to notice me..." She brought her head back up; she had the eyes of a killer. "ALL I HAVE TO DO IS KILL UNI!"

"H-HUH?!" We stared at her in surprise.

Golden light enveloped her body and she activated her Golden Form. "Noire, step aside please. I need to kill Uni..."

"N-Noire, what do we do?" Uni asked as she stared at K-Sha.

I tightened the grip on my sword. "Simple. We'll beat K-Sha's senses back into her..."

"W-What!?" Uni stared at me with a disbelieved look.

"I promised to be K-Sha's friend," I said, "and I'll help her overcome whatever is inspiriting her..."

Uni sighed. "Alright, then let me help too."

I turned back to Uni. "Are you sure you can still fight?"

Uni nodded and activated her HDD form. "We'll save K-sha, together."

I nodded and turned back to face her. "Hang on, K-Sha..."

She materialized her pair of pistols. "JUST DIE!"

K-Sha leaped into the air and began raining down bullets at our position. The two of us split apart and dashed away. K-Sha's bullets followed each of us.

"I'm already through with this! I'm ending this all in an instant!" K-Sha cast a shadow over her eyes.

As K-Sha landed back to the floor and Uni and I grouped back together, K-Sha dashed forward. We instantly blocked.

However, K-Sha stopped a few feet away from us and began firing high-speed bullets at us from point-blank range. I instantly stepped in front of Uni and began reflecting the bullets.

As I began to grow tired from reflecting the bullets, K-Sha's firing stopped and she jumped into the air once again.

While I struggled to catch my breath, the bulky black device K-Sha wore opened and several black spheres rolled into her hands. I watched as she began to throw them down towards us.

As I braced myself, K-Sha quickly shot at them all and they blew up in front of me, blowing me back.

"Noire!" Uni quickly caught me and I got back to my feet just in time to see the whole device open.

I braced myself. "Uni, when I say so, shoot at K-Sha's vital spots, but don't kill her. Just stop her."

Uni nodded. "I got it."

Suddenly, the device shot out two golden beams of energy speeding towards us. I dashed forward and slashed a beam away, following up by knocking the other away. "Uni, now!"

Hearing my signal, Uni fired several shots of energy at the bulky black device while K-Sha fell.

The force knocked the device off and threw K-Sha off balance as she began to plummet to the floor. I sped forward and—grabbing her by her collar, smashed her against the floor. I jumped away and nodded to Uni.

Uni then shot two shots that pierced through K-Sha.

"A-Agh!" We landed back to the floor and watched as K-Sha cried out in pain while her body fell limp.

"Noire, look," Uni pointed to the dark energy that had been emitting from K-Sha. "It's disappearing."

I nodded and we reverted back to our original form. "I think we're good..."

"Mmgh..." K-Sha rose back to her feet, wincing as she did. "O-Ow... W-What happened...?"

I smiled at K-Sha. "We saved you."

K-Sha bowed her head. "I-I'm sorry, Noire... Because of me, you almost lost your sister. I'm sorry..."

K-Sha then picked up her gun and shot at the crystal harboring her power. It shattered into fragments and it's glow faded.

"K-Sha... Why?" I asked.

K-Sha shook her head. "It's because of that power that I became like this. You probably don't even want to associate with me anymore."

"Hey," I walked up to K-Sha and placed my hands onto her shoulder. "I think you're a great person. In fact, you're still better than this other girl I know!"

"B-But—" K-sha could only stare with disbelief.

I shook my friends. "Hey, we're friends. What are friends for?"

As I said those last words, K-Sha smiled and nodded. "Yes! Friends!"

* * *

A few days had passed. Uni and I stared at K-Sha. In those few days, K-sha had come to a conclusion.

"Are you sure you really want to go?" I asked. "Don't you want to keep living normally?"

K-Sha smiled but shook her head. "Sorry, but I have to rise up to my position as Lastation's Gold Third. Maybe after this is all over...maybe then I can live a normal life..."

I let out a sigh. "Well, I'll respect your decision to leave."

K-Sha smiled. "Thank you, Noire."

"Uni," K-Sha stared at Uni with an apologetic expression. "I don't know if there is any possible way for me to say sorry for what I have done to you, but I'm truly sorry."

Uni simply returned her apology with a smile. "It's fine, K-Sha. I won't hold a grudge."

K-Sha smiled. "Thank you..."

I nodded. "Well, K-Sha, I guess we'll see you later."

K-Sha nodded. "I'll return to you as soon as possible, Noire!"

I smiled as we watched K-Sha run off. "Good luck, K-Sha..."

"Hey, Noire," Uni tugged on my sleeve.

"What's up, Uni?" I stared at Uni.

"What do you think everyone else is doing?" She asked.

I shrugged. "I'm not too sure. I can't imagine it not being as crazy as what we've had to go through..."

Uni stared up at the clouds. "I hope they're doing alright..."

I nodded. "Yeah..."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And Noire's story is over! Next, we'll move onto Blanc's story, which will take place in Hikan's Point of View. So, until then, you'll just have to wait! Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Who do you care more about? Your family or your trusted friends?**


	144. Chapter 144

Chapter 144

 **Hikan's POV**

I stared at Blanc as she rested quietly in the hotel bed. I turned to C-Sha. "Are you sure she's going to be alright?"

C-Sha cast me a reassuring smile. "Of course. You don't have to worry."

I crossed my arms and stared out towards the starry night sky. "Yeah... I guess..."

Shortly after that strange figure's light had blinded us, I found myself on the outskirts of Lowee, wondering why there was a golden tower in Lowee. Soon after, I had found Blanc, who was on her way to find Rom and Ram.

We had travelled to the nearest city to discover that a Guild receptionist who knew of where Rom and Ram had gone. She had said that they were heading to the capital city of Lowee. So we ran towards the direction of the capital city. However, along the way, monsters had attacked Blanc.

After being injured by the monsters, C-Sha showed up and took out the monsters. Since Blanc had fainted, C-Sha had helped me carry Blanc to her hotel room.

What I didn't understand was why C-Sha was acting as if she had never met us...

"Mmgh..." We snapped our attention to the bed as Blanc's eyes began fluttering open. "W-Where...?"

"Yo, how you holding up?" C-Sha asked Blanc. "By the way, I'm C-Sha."

"I-I'm doing good... T-Thank you..." Blanc smiled at C-Sha. "Also, I'm Blanc. Thanks for—"

I watched as Blanc's face twisted into anger. "W-Wait a second! You're that bitch!"

"H-Huh?" C-Sha stared at Blanc with a puzzled expression. "Did I do something to you?"

"Don't give me that shit!" Blanc shouted. "You're that whore that beat me to the ground!"

"Look, I don't think you've got the right person," C-Sha said. "I just saw you lying on the ground and that boy and I helped carry you here, to my hotel room. Plus, why would I help you if I had beat you up?"

"…" Blanc glanced over at me, looking for an answer.

I shrugged. "Blanc, just trust her. She hasn't done anything wrong yet."

"… Fine..." Blanc let out a sigh and turned back to C-Sha. "Sorry that I flipped out on you..."

C-Sha simply smiled. "Hey, no sweat. But I do want to ask you two something."

I perked up and turned to face C-Sha. "What kind of question?"

C-Sha shrugged. "I just wanted to know if you two were Hunters and why you were out there...um...dude."

I nodded. "It's Hikan."

"H-Hunters?" As I took a seat in one of the armchairs beside Blanc, she turned to C-Sha. "What's a Hunter?"

"Hm? You guys don't know what Hunters are?" C-Sha asked. "Where are you guys from?"

"I'm from Lowee, born and raised," Blanc answered.

I shrugged. "Planeptune, I guess."

C-Sha turned to face Blanc. "Then I don't get how you wouldn't know about the License System..."

"Well could you explain it to us?" I asked. "She was born in a very secluded area."

C-Sha shrugged. "Sure. Basically, to do anything, you need a license. A License determines the type of job you'll have and what social class you'll be put into."

"So it's basically a piece of paper that decides the rest of your life, isn't it?" I questioned.

C-Sha nodded. "Essentially. Personally, I don't really like it. But I didn't make the rules."

Blanc shook her head. "That's not right! Lowee is supposed to be a magical, fairy-tale land! Whoever made this system ruined Lowee!"

C-Sha nodded. "I do agree that I hate it."

"That reminds me... Who is the leader?" I asked.

"The Gold Third is the leader," C-Sha answered.

Blanc nodded. "Then how can we get licenses?"

C-Sha shrugged. "You can get it by taking the test at the guild. But I don't think it's open anymore..." C-Sha nodded towards the night sky. "You can go tomorrow morning."

I nodded. "Okay. But, as to why we were there, we were trying to find Blanc's little sisters."

C-Sha continued to nod. "I see..."

"Well then..." Blanc began to shuffle out of the bed.

"Woah, woah! What are you doing?!" C-Sha asked.

Blanc stared at C-Sha with a confused look. "G-Getting out of bed to go get a room?"

C-Sha shook her head and gestured Blanc back down. "No, you two are gonna stay here for the night, my treat!"

I stared at C-Sha with a confused look. "Why? What are you trying to gain?"

C-Sha shrugged. "I'm just trying to help. You guys can stay here with me until you find your sisters, Blanny."

"Alright, thanks," Blanc frowned at C-Sha. "By the way, don't call me that."

"Well, night, Blanny," C-Sha, seemingly ignoring Blanc's words, rose from the armchair and walked over to an open space.

"W-Wait. Where are you going to sleep, C-Sha?" I asked.

C-Sha chuckled and nodded towards the floor. "On the floor?"

"Why don't you take the bed instead?" Blanc suggested.

C-Sha smiled. "It's fine. You need to heal yourself anyways."

Blanc smiled. "Thanks..."

C-Sha nodded before laying on the floor. "Night, Blanny, Hikan."

We watched as she fell asleep as her head touched the floor. Blanc let out a sigh and turned to me. "Hey, Hikan?"

"Hm?" I turned to face her. "What's up?"

"Do you think she remembers us?"

I shrugged. "I wouldn't bother worrying about it for now. Let's just roll with it."

Blanc sighed. "Fine."

I smiled and gently pressed my lips against Blanc's forehead. "It'll be alright. We'll find Rom and Ram. Don't worry."

Blanc nodded. "I hope so..."

I caressed her cheek. "It'll be alright. Just try to get some rest."

Blanc returned my smile. "Okay. Goodnight."

I nodded. "Night."

* * *

"So, we just take the test?" I asked C-Sha.

She nodded. "Yup. Just take the test and get your licenses."

The next morning, C-Sha had guided us to the guild, where the license test was starting.

I shrugged. "That sounds simple enough," I turned to Blanc. "You ready?"

Blanc nodded. "Yeah."

"I'll cross my fingers that you guys become Hunters," C-Sha said.

Blanc sighed. "Whatever."

"Anyone who is taking the aptitude test, please follow me," a lady instructed.

"Good luck, you two," C-Sha said. "I'll be waiting outside."

We nodded to her before jogging to catch up to the group of testers.

We were led to a hallway filled with multiple rooms. The lady turned back to us. "Each of you shall occupy a room and take your test. I wish you all good luck."

We all nodded and each entered a room. I let out a breath. "Alright, let's do this..."

After taking the test, Blanc and I walked out of the guild, staring at our new licenses. We found C-Sha waiting for us. "Hey there. What'd you two get?"

We flashed her our licenses. Seeing our results, C-Sha formed a wide grin. "Good job on making Hunters! Now we can be a trio and fight monsters!"

Blanc shook her head. "I just want to find Rom and Ram."

I sighed. "Let's just take a quest and get going."

* * *

"You think Rom and Ram are here?" Blanc asked as we trotted along the pathway.

C-Sha shrugged. "I dunno."

"How do you not know?" Blanc asked.

I sighed. "To be fair, we did pick the hardest available quest. All it asked us to do was defeat some monster at the end of this path, not save two girls."

C-Sha smiled. "Yeah. Besides, we might have a chance of running into them, Blanny."

"For the last time, I said to stop calling me that!" Blanc shouted.

"I think it's a pretty cute name," C-Sha commented. "What about you, Hikan?"

I formed a grin. "I have to agree."

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Blanc shouted.

"GROAAAR!"

I turned my head towards the monster's cry. "Looks like we got company..."

In front of us was a large, whale-like monster floating in the air with black tentacles crawling out of it's back. What was odd about it was that it was emitting a dark mist.

"Is this our monster?" I asked.

C-Sha nodded. "I believe so."

Blanc gritted her teeth. "Hikan, transform!"

I nodded.

While a white light enveloped Blanc, flames gathered around me and surrounded my body. I tensed up as my body began to burn with a chilling pain. As the pain subsided, I emerged in my HDD form and materialized my blade. "That's new..."

As Blanc emerged in her HDD form and materialized her axe, she glared at the monster. "I don't give a crap! Help me take this thing out!"

In the next second, Blanc was speeding towards the monster. As she reached it, she raised her axe and got ready to slam it down towards the monster's face. "DIE YOU BITCH!"

"GROAH!"

However, the monster turned it's head up to Blanc and fired a beam of energy towards her.

In reaction, Blanc quickly swung her axe down and sliced the beam in half.

As the beam was sliced in half and Blanc was left open, several of the monster's tentacles shot out towards her. I quickly stepped in and sliced all the tentacles away.

"GRAAAH!"

The tentacles recoiled back as the flames engulfed them. As they did so, I threw my sword at the monster and stabbed it right into it's mouth, clamping it shut.

Blanc and I landed onto the ground and I snapped my fingers. Instantly, the monster erupted into flames.

"GROOOOAAAAH!"

While the monster cried out in pain, the tentacles all shot out towards us.

Before any of them could reach us, C-Sha stepped in and began tearing them apart. As she ripped the last tentacle off, Blanc rushed in on the open monster.

While Blanc leaped towards the monster, it shot out more tentacles at Blanc. She evaded them while falling towards the monster and slammed her axe down onto it as she reached the monster.

The monster was then drove deep into the ground and the axe smashed into it's head, splattering out blood.

Blanc pulled her blood-stained axe out and we watched as the dark mist faded from the burnt monster that lay dead in front of her.

"What was up with that thing..?" I asked.

"Oh, you two don't know?" C-Sha wondered.

We turned to C-Sha. "Know what?"

"Well, lately, monsters have been becoming infected by that dark mist," C-Sha explained. "We call them "delusionary" monsters."

Blanc and I reverted back to our normal forms and stared at the dead monster. "What does this delusionary state do to the monsters?"

C-Sha shook her head. "It basically makes monsters run amok in a blind rage. Not only that, but their strength also increases."

"Any idea as to where that mist is coming from?" I asked her.

C-Sha shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe some kind of monster."

"Hey, weren't you surprised when we transformed though?" I continued interrogating her.

C-Sha shook her head. "I'm a Hunter. I can't get surprised at every little thing."

I nodded. "I guess that's true..."

"That's great and all, but we still haven't found Rom and Ram," Blanc said with a frown.

"Hm?" I turned my head to a certain direction. "…"

"Yo, what's up, Hikan?" C-Sha asked.

"I could have sworn I just heard cries coming from that way..." I muttered.

Blanc nodded. "Yeah, I thought I did too..."

C-Sha sighed. "You two are probably hearing things. You're worrying too much. I'm sure it was just a monster."

Somewhat convinced, I nodded. "Yeah, probably..."

"Come on, let's head on back and turn the quest in," C-Sha tugged on Blanc.

I took one final glance at the direction of where the cry had come from before turning around to catch up to C-Sha and Blanc.

* * *

A few days had passed since we had encountered the delusional monster. Since then, we had continued doing quests, in search of Rom and Ram. However, no progress had been made. But Blanc and C-Sha did earn the title of the Golden Pair, even though I was part of their trio.

Shortly after C-Sha had escaped with Blanc's photograph of Rom and Ram and Blanc had chased her down, we had returned to C-Sha's hotel room while C-Sha went out to gather information.

I sat with Blanc on the bed, tucked in the blankets and reading a book together. "…"

"Yo, Blanny, Hikan!" C-Sha barged in and turned to us. "I got news on Rom and Ram!"

"R-Really!?" Blanc and I rolled off the bed and ran up to C-Sha. "Tell us!"

C-Sha—taken back—gestured at us to step back. "Hey, easy. I need some breathing space too, y'know."

"S-Sorry," both of us took a step back.

C-Sha let out a sigh. "Now then, I'll need to introduce her to you guys," C-Sha turned back to the door. "Yo, you can come in now!"

My eyes widened as a young girl walked into the room. "Y-You're..."

It was Financier, a girl I had met long ago.

She had chestnut brown eyes, pale skin and long sandy blonde hair. She still wore her white ruffled headpiece and white half-apron over her red one-piece dress—similar to a maid's outfit.

"Y-You're Financier..." I muttered.

"H-Huh?" Financier stared at me with a surprised look. "U-Um, how do you know my name?"

I sighed. "Oh yeah, sorry. We haven't met yet."

"R-Right," Financier nodded cautiously.

"Anyways, what did you want to tell us?" Blanc asked.

Financier turned to Blanc. "Well, a few days ago, I had asked of two girls—named Rom and Ram—to go do a quest for me. But they never returned. So, when I heard you guys were searching for them, I hurried to search for you three. That's when I ran into C-Sha."

"So you're here to tell us where they might be?" I asked.

C-Sha nodded. "That's the plan."

I turned to Financier and nodded. "Alright, then give us the coordinates."

Financier nodded.

* * *

"Are you sure they're here?" Blanc asked.

C-Sha shrugged as we trudged along the path. "That's what that girl said..."

We were back in the area where we had first done the quest with the delusional monster. Last time, we hadn't managed to get to the end. However, this time, we were travelling to the end of the area.

"EEEK!"

"That's Rom and Ram!" Blanc gritted her teeth and entered her HDD form. "C'mon!"

I activated my HDD form and C-Sha and I chased after Blanc.

As the sight came into view, we saw Rom and Ram trapped by a large, delusional wolf.

"GET THE HELL BACK!"

As Blanc materialized her weapon and the wolf leapt towards the two girls, Blanc dashed in and knocked the wolf away with a powerful strike from her axe.

The wolf quickly recovered from it's strike and landed onto it's feet. We caught up to Blanc.

"B-Blanc!?" Rom and Ram stared up at us with surprise. "Y-You're alive!?"

Blanc spun to her younger sisters. "Of course I'm alive!"

"GROAAAR!"

C-Sha smiled as the delusional wolf crept towards us. "Well, I guess we should deal with this first..."

I nodded and materialized my blade, setting it to flames. "Let's end this quickly..."

"GRAAAH!"

As the delusional wolf lunged towards us, C-Sha also lunged forward and kicked it towards the ground.

Just as the wolf crashed to the ground, Blanc charged forward and smashed her axe against the wolf's face, knocking the wolf away.

I chased after the wolf and watched as it recovered to it's feet. The second it landed onto the ground, I lunged forward and slashed it's head off.

The head fell to the ground and it's body fell limp, causing blood to trickle into a pool. I sighed before flying back to where everyone else was.

As Blanc and I reverted back to our normal forms, Rom and Ram lunged towards us and hugged us.

Blanc smiled. "I'm so glad you two are safe..."

The girls were in tears. "W-We're sorry!"

I smiled. "Don't worry. All that matters is that you two are safe..."

"Just promise to never do that again, alright?" Blanc requested.

The two girls quickly nodded. "Mhm..."

They pulled away and I let out a sigh. "Well, I guess we did it..."

C-Sha smiled. "I guess so... Let's head back to the hotel first."

* * *

We had quickly returned to C-Sha's hotel room and filled Rom and Ram on what had been going on. While they played, Blanc, C-Sha and I sat on the bed and discussed future matters. C-Sha had explained how she would have to leave because she had fulfilled her duty of helping us find Rom and Ram.

However, C-Sha had continued to come visit us and play with Rom and Ram.

I sat on the building top, overlooking the alleyway where C-Sha and Blanc were. Earlier, C-Sha had come to visit Rom and Ram again. However, Financier had showed up and told Blanc to meet up with her boss.

Having a faint suspicion, I had followed Blanc to the house. When she had returned to the hotel, Blanc asked C-Sha to follow her to an alleyway, leaving Rom and Ram alone in the hotel room.

I sat atop the building, in my HDD form, and gripped my blade, staring down at the two of them.

"Alright, I need you to start telling me the truth," Blanc instructed C-Sha. "Are you Lowee's Gold Third?"

C-Sha sighed. "I guess I was gonna have to say eventually... Yeah, I'm Lowee's Gold Third, and I was at that fight with you at the arena."

"Then you've known this entire time!" Blanc shouted. "Just what have you been scheming?!"

C-Sha shook her head. "Look, I'll try to explain the best I can. Basically, us four Gold Third members had climbed the Golden Summits—the golden towers—and had gained the powers that had defeated you. After we had defeated you all, that blinding light happened and everything changed."

Blanc stared at C-Sha. "What do you mean?"

C-Sha nodded. "It was as if we, Gold Third, had been ruling the nations since the beginning and CPUs never existed. By then, the License System had already been implemented, as if it had always existed."

Blanc nodded. "I see... Then is it also true that you're the one releasing the dark mist?"

C-Sha seemed taken back by Blanc's question.

After a second, she sighed. "Yeah, it is... After I had gained the Golden Power, a strange fog began to leak from me. Fearing what would happen, I leaked it out to the wild, affecting the nature. Since then I've been releasing the mist outside frequently, at the cost of making monsters delusional..."

Blanc nodded. "I see..."

"Well, since you seem done asking questions, let me ask you one, Blanny," C-Sha said. "Who gave you this information? They seem way too informed..."

"That's—"

"I'm afraid you don't need to say that," a man said.

I watched as a red, long-haired man wearing a suit approached the girls. He snapped his fingers and a group of soldiers swarmed in and pinned them both to the ground. "Good job, Lady Blanc..."

C-Sha glared at Blanc. "Blanny, you trsuted this fool!? Aznaleb!?"

Blanc shook her head. "N-No, I—"

Aznaleb shook his head. "Lady Blanc, there is no need to try to comfort the criminal," he held up a tape recorder. "We have already recorded all of this..."

I watched as C-Sha was dragged away while Blanc struggled to get up. "Blanny... I trusted you..."

Aznaleb smiled. "It's too late, C-Sha..."

"Are you sure about that!?"

As Aznaleb looked up, I jumped down and kicked him to the ground. His head slammed against the concrete and he dropped the tape recorder at my feet. I smashed it into pieces.

Blanc stared at me with a tearful expression. "H-Hikan..."

"Freeze!" The soldiers all aimed their guns to my head. "Move, and we'll shoot!"

I smiled. "Alright, I won't move..."

Without moving, I let flames burst from my body and engulf the soldiers, careful to avoid Blanc and C-Sha. "A-AGGHH!"

I began to run to C-Sha. "C-Sha!"

C-Sha watched me in horror. "Hikan! Turn around!"

"A-Agh..." As C-Sha said her warning, I felt something jab into my neck and my body began to lose strength. I forced my head to look up to see Aznaleb, glaring at me with his blood-stained face.

"You won't win, you brat..." As Aznaleb spat in my face and began dragging C-Sha away, my vision began to fade.

"D-Damnit..."

The strength left my body before I blacked out...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here is the end of the first part of Blanc's story. We're actually about done with Blanc's story and then we'll move onto Vert's story. After that, we'll finish Megadimension and move onto Arc Five. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Stay loyal to a trusted friend who's been lying to you, or trust a stranger who seems to have reliable evidence?**


	145. Chapter 145

Chapter 145

I had woken up a few hours later in the hotel room after passing out. Blanc had filled me in on how she had been forced by Aznaleb to investigate C-Sha and how C-Sha had been taken prisoner to be executed in a few days.

Knowing this, we spent the next several days looking for C-Sha. However, it was to no avail.

I sighed while my head rested on the hotel pillow. I continued to hear the sound of water pattering onto the marble floors of the bathroom. "What to do...?"

Since I had finished showering, Blanc, Rom and Ram had all gone in to shower afterwards, leaving me out in the hotel suite to do whatever. Although I could do anything I wanted, I was way too tense.

I took a deep breath and collected my thoughts. "C-Sha... I hope you're alright..."

The water sounds suddenly stopped and the door creaked open, steam slowly creeping out. The hot steam faded away and revealed Rom, Ram and Blanc, wet, but in their clothes.

"Hikan, what are you doing?" Blanc asked, staring at me.

I sat upright onto the bed before shrugging. "Not much. Just thinking about C-Sha..."

Blanc frowned but nodded. "You too, huh?"

I gave a small nod. "Yeah... But I wish we could get a lead..."

Before anyone else could speak, a knock came at our door. "L-Lady Blanc, Sir Hikan? Are you two in there?"

"I recognize that voice..." I hopped off the bed and swung the door open; it was Financier. "Financier? What are you doing here?"

She shook her head and quickly entered the room; Blanc was glaring at her. "What are you doing in here!? You're the one who ratted me out in the first place!"

Financier nodded grimly. "I cannot deny that. But, due to Aznaleb's recent actions, I have decided to no longer serve him. Instead, I'm choosing to serve under you, Lady Blanc."

I hurriedly closed the door and walked over to Rom and Ram. "What do you mean by 'his recent actions'?"

Blanc nodded. "Please do tell."

"Not only had Aznaleb ordered for C-Sha to be executed, but he also ordered you and Hikan to be added onto every wanted list in Lowee," Financier claimed.

I stared at her with shock. "You're joking, right?"

Financier shook her head. "I'm afraid I'm not..."

"Hm?" Upon hearing another knock on the door, I ran back over and swung it wide open. It was one of the guild receptionist. I slumped my shoulders. "Great... they're already here to capture us..."

"N-No, wait!" The guild lady motioned her arms to stop me from doing anything. "I'm here to tell you something!"

Blanc let out a sigh. "Is it about the wanted boards in the guild?"

The guild lady nodded before flashing us two wanted posters, one with my face and another with Blanc's face. There were even reward listings and everything.

"That was fast..." I stared at the posters in shock.

"Quick, we have to get out of here," Financier said. "I'll check your room out. You guys can exit out the back door!"

I nodded as Rom and Ram each took a hold of my arms. I looked down at the two of them. "Let's go."

The four of us rushed down the stairwell and exited out the back door. Shortly after, Financier burst through the door.

I looked around. We were in a back alley. "So what do we do now?"

Financier pointed down a direction. "My home isn't too far from the capital city and is pretty hidden. Come hide in my home."

Blanc shook her head. "Why would you even let us do that? For all we know, it could be a trap! Why should we trust you?"

Financier put her index finger to her chin and thought for a minute. "Well... I don't know why, but I have this strange desire to follow and serve under you..."

I shrugged and grinned at Blanc. "Plus, you did already follow her instructions and leave the hotel."

Blanc glared at me for a second. "Shut up!"

"Now's not the time to be talking," Financier stated. "Quick, let's get go—"

"H-Huh?" Hearing a stampede of footsteps, I peeked my head out of the alleyway and into the streets. "W-What the!?"

People were running and pushing others over, as if trying to escape something. I turned to Financier. "Hey, could you go check out why everyone is running away?"

"S-Sure," Financier jogged out of the alleyway and we watched her.

A second later, she came back in, a look of terror written on her face. "It's terrible! A large horde of delusional monsters have destroyed one of the neighboring cities and are heading towards this one!"

"What!? Really!?" Blanc stared at Financier.

She nodded. "It's true! What are we going to do!?"

I turned to Blanc; she gave a nod. "Financier, take Rom and Ram and help escort the citizens to safety. Hikan and I will go hold off the monsters until everyone is safe."

"W-What!?" Financier stared at the two of us with wide eyes. "B-But Lady Blanc, there's no way that the two of you could defeat that many monsters on your own!"

Blanc and I exchanged looks before smiling. "You'd be surprised..."

"Blanc, can we come too?" Ram asked.

"I-I want to fight too..." Rom added.

However, Blanc shook her head. "Sorry, no can do. Right now, it's important that you two help protect this nation and escort the citizens out."

The two girls pouted for a moment before sighing. "Okay..."

Blanc smiled. "Alright. Quickly, before everything erupts into chaos, let's go!"

We all nodded and went our separate ways.

As Blanc and I reached the area where the monsters were advancing, I gave a low whistle. "They really weren't kidding when they said it was a large horde of delusional monsters..."

"Yeah, this might even be too much for us to handle," Blanc admitted. "But that's not going to stop me from protecting this nation!"

I nodded. "Yeah."

The two of us activated our HDD forms and materialized our weapons. I stared at the horde of delusional monsters slowly advancing towards us. Monsters of all kinds were covered by the delusional mist. I closed my eyes.

 _No matter what happens, I will protect Gamindustri..._

I opened my eyes back up and charged towards the monsters. "RAH!"

""GROOOAAAR!"

As Blanc came charging behind me, I allowed my katana to erupt into flames and I began slicing away at the many monsters.

I sliced off the head of a wolf to see five more leaping down towards me. Before they could touch me, my body erupted into flames and blew them, along with any other nearby monster, away. The flames disappeared and an Ancient Dragon stepped towards me.

I braced myself to lunge towards it. However, a Dogoo knocked me to the ground. I looked up to see the Ancient Dragon about to step on my face.

"TAAH!"

Before the Ancient Dragon could squash me under it's enormous feet, Blanc flew in and smacked it away.

"GROAR!"

Blanc and I stood back-to-back, the delusional monsters surrounding us while advancing. "Think there's an easier way to take these things out?"

Blanc gritted her teeth. "At this rate, we'll be dead before we can even come up with a plan like that!"

I tightened my grip on my katana and took a stance as the monsters all lunged towards us.

"GROAAAH!"

"RAHH!"

* * *

"Haaa...Haaaa..." I struggled to catch my breath as I stared at the many monsters that were still advancing on us.

"Grrrr..."

"D-Damnit!" Blanc glared at the monsters through her ragged breaths.

"WHY THE HELL WON'T YOU STOP COMING!?" I shouted.

"GAAAAH!"

The two of us mustered the little energy that we still had and charged towards the monsters once again. Several large knight-like monsters—armored and equipped with broad swords—charged towards us.

I quickly parried one of the knight's strikes and allowed Blanc to hit the monster away. One of the other knights swung down at Blanc.

Before the blade could touch her, I grabbed the blade by it's edge and pushed the knight back.

The knight stumbled to the ground and I stabbed it through it's head, pulling it out just in time to slice off the head of the knight that had appeared behind me.

"VRRR!"

However, a mech appeared and fired a blast at us. We were both knocked away and skidded across the ground.

Blanc and I pushed ourselves up, staring at the many monsters that were still advancing. "T-There's just no end, is there?"

I let out a dry laugh. "Hate to say it, but I think I'm at my limit..."

Blanc nodded. "Yeah, I think I'm there too..."

"Then why not let me help you?"

Hearing C-Sha's familiar voice, we spun around to see her standing there. "C-SHA!?"

She walked to our side. "Yo, how's it going?"

Blanc glared at her but smiled. "Don't give me that crap! You were taken to be executed! Don't just shrug it off!"

C-Sha continued to smile as a golden light enveloped her. The golden light faded and she emerged in the form she had used back at the arena. "Don't sweat the details, Blanny. I came to help. That's all you need to know."

"B-But—!"

I gestured for Blanc to stop talking. "Listen, Blanc. Let's just defeat the monsters first. After that, we'll talk about this."

Blanc let out a puff. "Fine, whatever..."

"Alright, you guys ready?" C-Sha turned to us.

We nodded. "Ready!"

Her gaze turned back to the monsters. "Then let's go!"

The three of us charged at the many monsters that still remained.

C-Sha was the first to reach them and kicked the oncoming Ancient Dragon away, knocking against the group of Dogoos, splattering them into millions of gel bits.

As a wolf lunged down towards her, I dashed forward and impaled it with my blade. I pulled my blade out and turned around to see the mech's blast inches away from my face.

Blanc quickly swooped in and knocked the blast away, allowing C-Sha the opening she needed to attack the mech.

She charged forward and performed a volley of kicks towards the mech's body, finishing by uppercutting it's head off. The mech's body crashed to the ground and blew up.

We all landed back to our feet and stared at the monsters.

More seemed to be agitated. "Well, at least the numbers don't look as big as they did earlier..."

C-Sha shook her head. "That doesn't change the fact that there are still a lot..."

"Then let us lend you three a hand!"

"H-Huh?" We spun around to see all the Hunters with Rom, Ram and Financier.

"Charge!" The Hunters all charged towards the monsters.

"W-Why are you all here?!" C-Sha asked.

"We gathered all the Hunters and told them to come help you guys fight!" Ram said.

"After hearing that the Golden Pair and that boy were out here fighting, we couldn't just leave you all!" A Hunter said.

I sighed. "That boy..."

Financier stared at the surprised C-Sha. "Well, C-Sha? What do you think of Lowee's people now?"

C-Sha formed a smile. "Yeah, I was definitely wrong about them. They really are something..."

Financier smiled. "Of course! This is Lowee after all! It's a magical, fairy-tale land!"

C-Sha nodded. "Y-Yeah..."

Rom and Ram entered their HDD forms and tugged on Blanc's arms. "Come on Blanc! We want to fight too!"

Blanc formed a wide grin. "Are you kidding me?! There's no way in hell I'd let these assholes take the glory away from me!"

I nodded. "Neither am I!"

C-Sha continued to smile. "I won't lose and I'll still protect this nation!"

The five of us charged towards the monsters.

"FOR LOWEE!"

* * *

"Haaaa...Haaa..." I collapsed to the ground as my HDD form broke. "W-We did it..."

I forced myself to look up; all the monsters were now dead, decapitated, severed into limbs, stabbed many times or in piles of metal.

C-Sha laid down right beside me. "I-It's...over..."

I smiled before turning to see Rom and Ram resting on Blanc's back, all of them looking exhausted.

I returned to my own thoughts and stared up at the sky. "W-We did it..."

The Hunters, C-Sha, the three Loweean CPUs and I all lay on the bloody battlefield, exhausted but victorious.

Financier walked over to me, smiling. "Good job, Hikan."

I forced myself to smile. "T-Thanks..."

She helped me to my feet and I took a moment to recover my footing. I then helped C-Sha to her feet. "Hey, are you feeling?"

C-Sha forced a dry smile. "I could be better..."

I smiled. "It's over now."

The three of us quickly helped Blanc, Rom and Ram to their feet before moving onto helping the Hunters.

Once everybody had been helped up, Blanc sat down on the ground. "C-Sha, you still haven't answered my question yet."

"Actually, I helped break C-Sha out," Financier spoke up.

Blanc turned to her. "Really?"

She nodded in response. "Since the whole nation of Lowee was in a panic, nobody was watching her, not even Aznaleb."

Blanc smiled. "I see... Well, how about we hurry back to Lowee and inform everybody that Lowee is now safe?"

I nodded. "I like that idea, but I don't think I can move anymore..."

C-Sha nodded. "Same here. Rom, Ram, lend me your shoulders, please..."

"You got it!" Ram quickly ran towards C-Sha.

"Leave it to us..." Rom also ran over to C-Sha and the two girls supported her to her feet.

"H-Hey, what about me?" Blanc asked.

"I-I can help carry you..." A Hunter said, panting. "I could give you a piggyback ride!"

My eyebrow twitched.

"L-Let me do it!" Another Hunter said. "I do a princess carry and—AGH!"

"UGH!"

I punched both of the Hunters in their stomachs and they crumpled to the ground. "No way in hell I'm letting you do that!" I looked up at the other Hunters. "You guys carry these two idiots back. I'M helping Blanc."

"Sir!" The Hunters all saluted.

Financier stared at me, surprised. "But didn't you say you couldn't move?"

I shrugged. "It's better than letting those creeps carry her..."

"Now then..." I dragged myself back over to Blanc. "Mind if I carry you?"

Blanc smiled and shook her head. "No, I don't mind."

I nodded and allowed her to climb onto my back, wrapping her arms around me. I let out a sigh. "Alright, let's get back to Lowee..."

"Hey, C-Sha," Blanc looked over at C-Sha. "I'm sorry for almost getting you killed..."

C-Sha responded with a warm smile. "I should be apologizing to you, Blanny. I chose not to believe you or tell you anything. I'm also sorry."

I smiled. "I'm just glad you two made up."

Financier nodded. "As am I."

And, with those final words, we marched on back to Lowee...

* * *

"Look, there they are!"

As we all returned to Lowee, the citizens all ran towards us, forming a crowd around us. "They did it! They vanquished the monsters!"

"What's going on?" C-Sha looked around. "I thought everyone ran from Lowee..."

"We heard that the Golden Pair and the Hunters were fighting the monster horde!" A citizen said. "We wouldn't abandon Lowee if you all were still out there fighting to protect it!"

Financier smiled before nudging C-Sha. "What do you think of Lowee now?"

C-Sha smiled. "Yeah, I was certainly wrong about it before..."

"Then why don't you convey your feelings properly this time?" Financier suggested.

C-Sha nodded and stepped up to a rock, using it as a stepping stool. "Everyone! Please, listen to me!"

All eyes turned to C-Sha. They were all staring at her intently. "…"

"I'm a Hunter and I had gone to fight off those monsters earlier. I've made some mistakes in the past, but I still have a request for you all!" C-Sha's voice boomed.

The citizens stared at her with curiosity.

"I ask that you allow me to lead you all, as your nation's Gold Third, C-Sha!" C-Sha announced. "I know I may not seem reliable, but I was a coward, hiding in the shadows. I have since then realized the errors of my ways!"

The citizens erupted into a murmurs.

"Her as our leader? I'm not sure..."

"There's no way she could be the Gold Third..."

"Why should we trust her...?"

However, C-Sha continued to stare down at the citizens, determined. "Please! I love this nation with all of my heart and I want it to be a beautiful place, abolished of the License System and a nation of joy! People of Lowee, I beg of you!"

"…" The citizens fell silent, staring at C-Sha.

A voice spoke up. "Hey, why the hell not? If she's going to get rid of that damn License System, I'll trust her!"

A woman nod. "Yeah! If she was brave enough to help fight the monsters off, then I say let her be the leader!"

"If she really does love Lowee that much, then I'd say she's okay in my book!" An old man agreed.

C-Sha stared at the people in disbelief as they all slowly came to an agreement, "R-Really!?" She wiped away the tears that had formed at the corners of her eyelids. "I promise I won't let you down!"

"H-Hey, Blanc," Rom tugged on her older sister's sleeve. "Why aren't you going to rule?"

"Yeah! I want these dummies to finally stop being so stupid towards us!" Ram added.

Blanc smiled but shook her head. "I think it's best to not force them to remember. Instead, we'll just let C-Sha rule. I think she can do it."

C-Sha hopped off the rock and ran over to us, gleaming with joy. "I did it, guys!"

Rom, Ram and I exchanged high fives with C-Sha. "Good job!"

"Thanks!" She then turned her attention to Blanc. "Thank you too, Blanny. If it wasn't for you, I probably wouldn't be standing here right now..."

Blanc shook her head. "It's no problem, C-Sha."

"Well, well..." All eyes turned to the familiar voice of a putrid, terrible man. Aznaleb. "Thanks for defending MY nation, C-Sha!" His lips coiled into a sinister smile. "But I think it's time to stop playing games and hand the nation back over to me!"

We glared at Aznaleb, his army of soldiers following closely behind him. "Who would ever hand this nation over to somebody as disgusting as you?!"

Aznaleb roared out with laughter. "You truly believe what you're saying?!" He snapped his fingers. "Hunters, seize that foul lady!"

"…" But nobody listened to his instructions. Instead the Hunters and his soldiers grabbed a hold of him. "I'm afraid you're no longer in power. Lady C-Sha is now. And you'll be heading to prison for a long time."

"W-Wait a damn minute!" Aznaleb struggled to break free from the soldiers and Hunters' vice grip. "S-She's the villain who has been releasing that putrid mist out to the monsters! How could you possibly let her in power?!"

I stepped up to him and spat in his face. "As far as I'm concerned, she's pretty reliable. She actually came out to help stop the monsters, unlike you..."

Aznaleb glared at me. "You have no proof that I did! For all you know, I could have been helping the people escape!"

"That's a lie!" One of his soldiers piped up. "Aznaleb specifically said that he would leave Lowee and that his life mattered more than the people of this nation!"

Aznaleb spun his head to the soldier. "Shut your mouth! You have no proof! Without me, you'll all fall into Darknes—Oof!"

"Shut your damn mouth!" Blanc barked as she threw a punch at his face. "Nobody here likes or needs you!"

"Y-Y-You..." Aznaleb turned his bloodshot eyes to Blanc. "You...punched me... P-Punched my beautiful face!"

I put a hand to his shoulder, catching his attention. "How about we fix that, hm?"

He stared at me. "W-What are you talking abo—AGH!"

I kneed him in his gut and watched his body go limp while the soldiers and Hunters held him up.

He struggled to catch his breath through his coughs. "D-DAMN YOU ALL!"

"I think that's enough out of you," the Hunters and soldiers began dragging the defeated Aznaleb away.

While the crowds roared with cheers, Blanc, Rom, Ram and I exchanged high fives. "We did it!"

"U-Ugh..." Suddenly, C-Sha stumbled back, holding her stomach, where the delusional mist was seeping from her.

"H-Hey, are you alright, C-Sha?" Blanc asked.

C-Sha let out a dry laugh. "I-I'll be right back. I-I...have to...take care of something first..."

"C-Sha! Wait!" Blanc's calls for her were pointless as we watched C-Sha hurry away.

"W-Where do you think she went?" Rom asked.

Ram shook her head. "I don't care! I want to find her!"

I nodded. "Yeah. I'm going to try the Golden Summit first. If she really is a Gold Third member, then she'll surely be there!"

Blanc nodded. "I'll come with you!"

I activated my HDD form. "This isn't a joke this time. Her life could be at risk. We have to hurry!"

The Loweean CPUs activated their HDD forms. "Right!"

At their last words, we sped towards the Golden Summit.

 _Hang on, C-Sha..._

* * *

"Look! There she is!" Ram pointed ahead, towards an empty pedestal. C-Sha stood in front of the pedestal, the delusional mist had now created a fiery aura around her.

We had climbed to the top of the Golden Summit, a place which seemed to be in a spatial void with transparent platforms.

C-Sha turned back to us. "H-Hey... I didn't expect...you guys to come up here..."

"C-Sha! What's wrong!?" Blanc asked.

C-Sha forced a smile through her sweat and ragged breaths. "I-I destroyed the crystal, the source of my power... B-But this won't end unless this thing inside of me is driven out..."

I took a step towards her and materialized my blade. "Then I'll do what I have to do..."

"W-Wait, Hikan!" I turned back to Blanc. "You're not going to kill her, right!?"

I shook my head. "Nope. I'm just going to do as C-Sha said and drive that delusional mist out of her..."

Blanc nodded and materialized her blade. "Then let me help!"

"Us too!" The two CPU Candidates chimed as they materialized their staffs.

"GRAAAAH!" The dark aura around C-Sha erupted and she crumpled to the floor while the energy created a beam that shot up to the skies.

"C-SHA!" Blanc called out to her.

"…" The dark beam calmed and returned to emitting a dark aura around C-Sha. She stared up at us and smiled. Although she was now in her Gold Form, her eyes were a dark gold color, almost olive gold.

Her smile was now chilling. "This body is mine. And I'll start by using it to kill all four of you!"

I tightened the grip on my blade. "I don't know what you are, but we'll stop you and save C-Sha."

"It's too late!" The delusional C-Sha said. "You'll all die here and now!"

Without wasting another second, the delusional C-Sha lunged towards us. In the next second, she was in front of me, ready to drive a fist into my gut.

I quickly burst and let flames blow from my body, causing the delusional C-Sha to take a step back.

The instant her feet touched the floor, a large glacier of solid ice crashed down on the delusional C-Sha.

She quickly reacted and tried to block the ice, only to be pushed to the floor.

As the delusional C-Sha slammed against the floor, Blanc swooped in and slammed her axe down.

The delusional C-Sha quickly recovered and used her feet to clamp Blanc's axe between her feet and threw Blanc, along with the axe, aside.

Blanc landed back to her feet and looked up to see the delusional C-Sha in front of her.

Before Blanc could do anything, the delusional C-Sha jabbed a punch at Blanc's jaw and kicked her to the floor.

Just as she got ready to jump onto Blanc, an ice shield appeared to shield Blanc.

The delusional C-Sha used the ice shield to kick off and land back to the floor. As her feet touched the floor, ice caught her feet and trapped her in place.

While she struggled to escape, Rom and Ram shot over volleys of ice shards all aimed directly at the delusional C-Sha.

The dark aura shot another beam up towards the sky and the delusional C-Sha quickly broke from the ice. Following that, she enveloped her fist in a dark energy and lunged towards the two CPU Candidates, breaking through the ice shards with her fist.

However, as the delusional C-Sha reached Rom and Ram and got ready to swing at them, Blanc swooped in and smashed her axe down onto the delusional C-Sha, slamming her against the floor once again.

As her body crashed to the floor, Rom and Ram's ice froze C-Sha.

I then allowed flames to gather around me, forming a fiery armor. I quickly converted the flames to my blade, creating the familiar Phoenix and slammed it down towards the delusional C-Sha, flames engulfing the area.

The flames subsided. I stared at where the delusional C-Sha had been hit. She was still standing there, slightly injured but burned.

A sneered formed on her face. "That was pretty good. But it's not good enough..."

The girls landed back at my side. "C-Sha, please come back to us!" Rom begged.

"Yeah! We can go back to doodling all over Blanc's papers!" Ram added.

"W-Wait..." Blanc spun her head to Rom and Ram. "Y-You mean it was you three who scribbled all over my masterpiece manuscript?!"

"Y-Yeah...B-But we didn't have any paper left..." Ram muttered.

"Y-You said to try to conserve our resources..." Rom added.

"YOU KNOW YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSE TO DRAW ON MY PAPERS THOUGH!" Blanc shouted.

"H-Hey, shouldn't we focus on bringing back C-Sha?" Ram asked.

"I COULD GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THAT RIGHT NOW!" Blanc roared. "I CARE MORE ABOUT MY PAPERS RIGHT NOW!"

Rom and Ram gulped. "U-Uh-oh... RUN!"

"GET YOUR ASSES BACK HERE!" Blanc shouted as she chased after Rom and Ram.

"P-Playing during a fight...?" The delusional C-Sha stared Blanc, who was chasing Rom and Ram around the room.

I smirked. "Got you!"

I dashed forward and vice gripped the delusional C-Sha, catching her off guard. My body roared to life with flames and the flames caught her, burning her as well.

"AGHHH!"

She pulled away and crumpled to the floor, trying to extinguish her fire. As her fire was exhausted, I stepped up to her and threw a hook punch towards her jaw.

The delusional C-Sha crumpled back to the floor and the delusional mist faded away. I reverted back to my normal form and ran up to her. "Hey, are you alright?"

She rubbed her head. "Why do I feel so burned...?"

I formed a wide grin. "I'm sorry. I roasted you too hard."

"S-Shut up..." C-Sha threw a playful punch at my shoulder. "Thanks for saving me..."

I nodded as Blanc, Rom and Ram approached; they were all back to their normal forms. "C-Sha, are you alright?"

C-Sha nodded. "Yeah, sorry for worrying you, Blanny. But it's all over now, right?"

However, Blanc glared at C-Sha. "Not yet. I've heard that you actually DID scribble all over my manuscript..."

C-Sha gulped. "U-Um..."

Rom and Ram dashed off. "Run, C-Sha!"

C-Sha quickly scrambled to her feet to catch up to the two girls. "See ya later, Blanny!"

Blanc's face twisted into rage and she chased after them. "Get your damn asses back here!"

I sighed as I watched them run off. "Well, at least everything is good on our side... I wonder how everyone else is doing..."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here is the end of Blanc's story! The last one is Vert's story, which will be told in Silver's Point of View. Afterwards, we'll finish the Gold Third story and move onto the Heart Dimension story: the shortest, but longest. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Do you consider yourself better than your friends?**


	146. Chapter 146

Chapter 146

 **Silver's POV**

I let out a sigh and brushed the dirt off of my jacket. "Man, those soldiers were vicious..."

After that blinding light had hit us all, I had woken up somewhere on the outskirts of Leanbox without anyone around me. So, I had decided to go to the nearest city. However, as I was walking to the city, a bunch of soldiers surrounded me and claimed that I was some type of "Demon King".

Without giving me a chance to voice my opinion, the soldiers opened fire on me. However, I simply just knocked them all out and hid up in a tree. Once they had woken up, they went off in some other direction, convinced I had somehow escaped.

"That brings us to now..." I stared up at the sky. "All I want to do is get some answers. Is that too much to ask for?"

"Hm?" I spun around to the sound of a bush's rustle. I quickly scanned it. "Really?"

I let out a laugh as I stopped scanning and jogged up to the bush, smiling. I leaned close to the bush, allowing me to hear the breaths coming from it.

"Yo, Nepgear. Stop hiding."

"W-What the goodness?!"

I watched as Nepgear jumped out of the bush and shielded her face. "I-I'm sorry! I-I'm not an intruder! There weren't any boats left! Please don't hurt m—" she peeked her eyes open to see my laughing face. "S-Silver!?"

I stretched my arms out and allowed Nepgear to tackle me to the ground with a hug. "H-Hey, not so hard..."

She buried her face into my chest. "I didn't know what happened to you... I was so worried..."

I smiled and pressed a soft kiss onto her forehead. "It's fine now. I'm here."

"Y-Yeah..." She planted a kiss on my cheek and let out a sniffle. "I'm just glad to see you safe..."

Nepgear dismounted herself from me and allowed me to sit upright with her. I ruffled her hair for a second. "So how'd you get here?"

"Well, Neptune told me to come here," Nepgear explained. "Since Vert had nobody else to rely on, she told me to come here and help her out."

I nodded while smiling. "Your sister can be so understanding when she tries..."

Nepgear nodded with an expression of agreement. "She can be cool when she tries."

"But how'd you get over here?" I asked once again. "You said that Neptune sent you over here. But how did you get over here from Planeptune?"

Nepgear let out a sigh. "Well, all the boats heading towards Leanbox had been canceled, so I couldn't ride here. So, instead, I decided to fly here," Nepgear frowned. "But, as I got closer, soldiers began trying to fire me down. So I had to knock them out and hide. That's where you came in."

I nodded. "Right... They thought I was their target—some Demon King—and attacked me."

Nepgear bowed her head. "S-Sorry..."

I shook my head and smiled at her. "You didn't do anything wrong. You were just trying to follow your sister's instructions. I just happened to be there when it happened."

"N-Nepgear? S-Silver?"

"Huh?" We both turned our heads up to see Vert, staring at us blankly. "W-What are you two doing here?"

Nepgear let out a sigh. "Thank goodness... I was trying to find you, Vert."

As we rose to our feet, Vert stared at us with a puzzled expression. "Me? Why? And why are you two even here?"

Nepgear let out a dry laugh. "W-Well..."

* * *

Vert nodded. "I see... That explains a lot..."

After Nepgear had retold the story she had just told me and also told about what the other CPUs were up to, Vert went on to explain her story so far.

She had arrived at the Basilicom to discover S-Sha—the silver-haired Gold Third member—in control of Leanbox. Vert had become a soldier under Leanbox to investigate and get closer to S-Sha.

Vert had already been dispatched twice, once to deal with the "Demon King" which wasn't even there, and the other time was to find the Leanbox invaders, which had been Nepgear and I.

"So why does she care so much about finding this Demon King?" Nepgear asked.

Vert shrugged. "I'm not sure. But it apparently had this curse that turns people into ran-pigs."

I cocked my head. "R-Ran-pigs...? What are those?"

"Oh, you don't know?" Nepgear stared at me with a surprise look before pulling out her N-Gear. After a few swipes and taps on the screen, she pulled up an image. "These are ran-pigs."

Apparently, ran-pigs were white pigs with beady black eyes and black paint underneath each eye, creating the image that they were crying. They also wore a gray headband.

I stared at the image. "Huh... Those look kinda cute... I guess..."

"Anyways, S-Sha's looking for some Demon King and she's been dispatching me to different areas to find it," Vert explained. "However, no progress has been made..."

I ran my hand through my hair. "Do you think it could be a Spawn?"

Nepgear stared at me. "Why would it be a Spawn?"

I shrugged. "Well, Devils use us as their vessels. And since it's a Demon King, then it most likely has to have something like a Devil inside it."

Vert shook her head. "No... Unless Spawns can turn people into ran-pigs, then I doubt it..."

I nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right..."

"Anyways, let's head back to Leanbox and report S-Sha," Vert said.

"W-Wait, didn't you say you were also here to search for the Demon King too?" Nepgear asked.

Vert smiled. "Oh, that's right. Thank you, Nepgear. If you two wouldn't mind, could you help me find this Demon King?"

Nepgear and I nodded. "Sure."

Vert's smile grew a bit wider. "Thank you. Now then, let us head off to the location of where this Demon King is supposed to be..."

Nepgear and I nodded one final time and began following Vert off to wherever...

* * *

After about half an hour of walking, we arrived at the destination of where the Demon King was supposed to be.

"H-Hey, is that the Demon King?" Nepgear asked as she pointed ahead towards a thick dark mist.

We stared at the dark mist with wonder. Vert just stared blankly at it. "I'm not too sure... S-Sha never gave me an actual description of the Demon King's appearance..."

"Well, it's definitely not a Spawn..." I stared at the mist with a look of slight disappointment.

"W-Woah!" We struggled to stay on our feet as the ground began to tremble.

Suddenly, the mist's form stretched out and a part of it separated, forming a monster.

"What the hell is that?" I stared up at the monster with a surprised look.

It had a small, dark body shape that held up a massive, beating heart and it's head was jutting out of it's fragile, tiny upper body structure. It was also radiating a fiery dark energy while it floated in the air.

"That kind of looks like one of the monsters from Zero Dimension," Nepgear stated.

I materialized my blade. "I don't care what it looks like! It's going to die!"

"I agree," Vert nodded and activated her HDD form, materializing her spear. "Come, Nepgear. Help us end this foul beast!"

Nepgear let out a moan before activating her HDD form and materializing her gunblade.. "Goodness... Why does it always have to be violence?"

"GROOOAR!"

Suddenly, the monster's tiny arms shot out towards us.

We all jumped away before scattering around the monster. I stopped at a position and lunged towards the monster's arm, slashing it off.

"GROOAR!"

As it's arm was chopped off, it's head snapped to me and shot out a beam of energy at me from it's mouth.

I quickly performed a backflip and avoided the beam.

I skidded to a halt and Vert and Nepgear sped towards the monster.

The monster pulled it's arm out of the ground and it retracted to it's original, non-stretched form. As it turned to the two CPUs, Nepgear shot a beam at the monster before continuing to speed towards it.

The monster countered by shooting out a beam of energy, canceling Nepgear's beam. It then began spewing a dark flame from it's mouth, directed towards the CPUs.

The two of them flew to the sides and boosted towards the monster.

The monster then began firing multiple blasts of energy aimed at the two of them.

While Nepgear covered for Vert and deflected the multiple blasts and kept the monster distracted, Vert sped towards the back of the monster's head.

Her spear began to emit a green glow and she began thrusting multiple, lightning-fast strikes at the back of it's head. As she finished her barrage of strikes, she swung her spear and sliced off the monster's head.

The monster crashed to the ground and the two CPUs returned to my side. I smiled. "That wasn't so bad..."

Vert nodded as she and Nepgear reverted back to their original forms. "I agree..."

Suddenly, the dark mist began spewing out more monsters. Although it was the same monster, it spewed out several dozens of them.

I gulped. "So... Anybody want to call a tactical retreat?"

Vert nodded. "We'll be easily overwhelmed. I hate to do it, but we might have to retreat."

Nepgear also nodded. "I hope they don't follow us..."

I shook my head. "We'll just have to outrun them..."

At my last words, I took off back to Leanbox, the two CPUs following closely behind...

* * *

We had arrived back at Leanbox, at it's Basilicom. Luckily, they hadn't chased after us.

The three of us entered the Basilisom. Upon entering, the first thing that caught my eyes were the Dogoo with human-like bodies.

There were two Dogoo ladies, wearing only red underwear, at the sides of a throne—which S-Sha sat on—and a male Dogoo, wearing only a black speedo, bent over, allowing S-Sha to rest her feet on the Dogoo Man's back.

"Vert, you have failed..." S-Sha said coldly, rising from her throne.

Vert nodded. "Yes, I'm sorry. But we had to have a tactical retreat."

"I'm not interested in reasons..." S-Sha muttered. She nodded towards us. "Who are these two?"

Vert smiled. "They were the two who had supposedly invaded Leanbox. However, they're not invaders. They're just friends of mine."

S-Sha nodded. "I see..." She let out a sigh. "Well, since you've failed, you're dismissed for now. Whatever that thing was that was spawning those monsters has probably left. So, until I figure out anything about the Demon King, you three are dismissed."

Vert smiled before bowing. "Thank you," Vert nudged us as she stood back up. "Come on. Let's go."

We nodded before quickly following Vert out of the Basilicom and to a hotel room.

"S-So, what do we do now?" Nepgear asked.

Vert formed a wide grin. "I'm going to take you to the hot springs to unwind..."

A chill ran down Nepgear's spine. "P-Please be gentle..."

Vert looked over at me. "Silver, try to gather information about this Demon King while we're enjoying ourselves."

I let out a sigh. "Yeah, I figured..."

Vert smiled. "Good. We'll be off now!"

As I watched the two of them walk off, I caught Nepgear wave me a goodbye.

The instant the door clicked close, I flopped onto the bed and let out a heavy sigh. "Well, I should probably get started..."

"Hm?" I glanced over at the door upon hearing a flapping sound. At the door's step there was a note.

I walked over and picked it up, unfolding it. "Save S-Sha before it's too late..." I read. "Hm... I wonder who sent this... It doesn't seem like a joke. I'll just tell Vert about it later..."

As I set the note onto the nightstand, I sat down at a corner to begin surfing through the hotel's computer.

I popped my neck. "Alright... Let's get started..."

* * *

A few hours later, Vert and Nepgear had returned to the hotel room, Nepgear seeming embarrassed for some reason. I had informed the two of them about the note before receiving a call from S-Sha, reporting us both to the Basilicom.

We looked up at S-Sha as her feet rested on the Dogoo Man's back. "There has been another sighting of the Demon King. I have sent the coordinates to the place to your phone. Find it."

Vert nodded. "I understand. But what about the invaders?"

For a second, S-Sha's cold, dull eyes flickered. She blinked. "Don't worry about them. Just go find the Demon King."

Vert bowed. "I understand."

We hurried out of the Basilicom. Nepgear stared at Vert. "Vert, are we really going to not stop the invaders?"

Vert shook her head. "Of course not! We're going to stop the invaders AND find the Demon King!"

I nodded. "That's not a bad idea. Let's go then."

"Right."

Without another word, Nepgear and I began following Vert...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here is the end of the first chapter of Vert's story. This story won't be too long because there honestly isn't much that happens in my opinion. That's why these two chapters of Vert's story won't be as long compared to the other story chapters. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **You're at the end of your shift as a caretaker. Just as you're about to leave, you notice a woman in dire need of help. You are off the clock. Do you spend the rest of the day helping her or leave her be?**


	147. Chapter 147

Chapter 147

"Look, it's one the invaders!" Nepgear pointed towards a mech that had been wandering around.

I stared at it in puzzlement. "Why's it all the way in here?"

Vert nodded. "It's strange that the guards would let it in so easily..."

Nepgear shrugged. "M-Maybe they were easily defeated..."

I shook my head. "That could be a possibility. But it also could be something else... It doesn't even seem that strong..."

Vert let out a sigh and entered her HDD form. "It doesn't matter. Help me take this out."

Nepgear nodded and activated her HDD form. "R-Right!"

As the mech turned to us, we all materialized our weapons and lunged towards the mech.

It's eyes locked onto us and two laser beams were fired at us.

I performed a spinning motion and knocked the beams away, allowing Vert and Nepgear to continue towards it.

As the two CPUs neared it, the mech swung down it's fist at them.

As they evaded the fist, Nepgear sliced at the fist, severing it from the mech. While Vert got on one side of the mech, Nepgear sped towards the other.

The mech stumbled in between the two CPUs, directly in line. The second the mech stopped moving, Nepgear and Vert both lunged towards the mech and began barraging it with slashes and strikes.

While the mech endured the powerful volley of strikes, I lunged towards it and the girls parted.

Just as the mech recovered from the attacks, I came down and slashed it down the middle.

In an instant, it was split in two and the mech halves crashed to the ground.

As my blade disappeared, I watched as the two CPUs landed at my side and returned to their original forms.

Vert stared at the open mech and it's inside parts. "Nepgear, could you examine where this was manufactured?"

Nepgear nodded before running over to the open circuitry and scanning around. "Hmm... H-Hey, it says it was made here in Leanbox..."

Vert's eyes widened. "R-Really!?"

Nepgear nodded and pointed to a part of the mech with a faded Leanbox logo. "Right there."

Vert took a closer look and bit her lip. "You're right... But why would this be made in Leanbox if it's an outside invader?"

Nepgear pointed to other various parts of the mech. "Well, it's been modified with parts from other nations too."

I nodded. "Meaning, whoever did this must've had a reason..."

"Yes," Vert agreed. "But, for now, let's just go on and find the Demon King. We got what we came here for."

Nepgear stood back up and took one final look at the mech before nodding. "Yeah, let's go."

* * *

"Look, up ahead!" Vert pointed towards an open room housing a monster. "That must be the Demon King!"

We entered the room, allowing us to examine the monster in front of us. It looked practically identical to the monsters that had appeared when we had followed Vert to the dark mist.

The only differences were that it consisted of only two colors, red and black. While it's skeleton and gigantic beating heart were colored black, it's skin and head were colored a glowing crimson red. It also had several red tails sprouting from it's back.

"V-Vert, that isn't the Demon King!" Nepgear said. "That's a monster from Zero Dimension!"

We turned to Nepgear. "Really?" I stared at Nepgear with a surprised look.

She nodded. "Neptune, Tolise and I all fought one together. It was a different version, but it's still of the same species!"

"Really?" A mischievous smile crossed Vert's face. "Well then, maybe we could use this to our advantage..."

I watched as the two girls activated their HDD forms and materialized their weapons. Without warning, they both charged towards the monster.

I let out a grumble and materialized my weapon before dashing towards the monster. "Thanks for leaving me..."

As the CPUs neared the monster, it's tails all sped towards them.

Vert quickly countered by thrusting multiple strikes at the tails, knocking them all back. She then followed Nepgear and lunged towards the monster.

The second they reached it, the monster blasted out a beam of energy at them and it's tails sped towards them once again.

I quickly jumped in and knocked the beam away, following up by cutting off all the tails and kicking the monster back.

Vert and Nepgear then each got on a side of the monster and began barraging it with multiple, lightning fast strikes.

After multiple strikes, Nepgear impaled the monster's heart, causing the monster to begin falling to the ground as she pulled her blade out.

The monster crashed to the ground and the girls reverted back to their original forms.

"Nepgear, you were right. That was hardly a Demon King," Vert said. "Now then, since only Nepgear knows about this thing's true identity, we'll use that to our advantage..."

I let out a sigh. "Whatever you're planning, just make sure it isn't too crazy..."

* * *

After defeating the "Demon King", the girls had made me carry it back to the Basilicom for them.

S-Sha stared at the sight in front of her while the Dogoo Man inspected it. A smile crossed her face. "I didn't expect you would find the Demon King this soon... As expected of a CPU and a CPU Candidate..."

"If you wouldn't mind, S-Sha, I would like to request a reward for our efforts," Vert said.

S-Sha stared at Vert. "Anything. I'll make it happen."

I nodded. _Say Leanbox... Say Leanbox..._

Vert smiled. "I would like to have all existing games, with preorder bonuses, and all the mature games that have even been banned!"

"W-WHAT!?" Nepgear and I stared at Vert with disbelief. Nepgear ran up to her. "Vert, you said you were going to ask for Leanbox, remember?"

"I-I know, Nepgear..." Vert let out a dry laugh. "I-It was just a joke. T-That's all..."

S-Sha let out a sigh. "Leanbox? Sure, you can have it."

"H-Huh?" We spun back to S-Sha, unable to comprehend the words she had just uttered. "D-Did you say we could have it back?"

S-Sha nodded. "It doesn't interest me anyways. My goal is already complete."

"S-Sha. We've run into a problem..." Dogoo Man called out.

"U-Uh oh..." The three of us tensed up as we watched S-Sha slowly walk towards Dogoo Man.

"What's wrong?" S-Sha asked. "Is this not the Demon King?"

Dogoo Man nodded towards the monster. "Well... It is, but it's not..."

S-Sha's eyes flickered with anger. "So you're telling me what we thought to be the Demon King wasn't the Demon King?"

Dogoo Man nodded. "Exactly..."

"E-Sha..." S-Sha gritted her teeth and stormed out of the Basilicom.

Dogoo Man turned to us. "You guys better go. Sorry..."

We nodded and left the Basilicom to regroup at our hotel room.

Vert let out a sigh. "It was going so well too..."

"We got Leanbox back I think, but I'm still worried about S-Sha..." I murmured.

Nepgear nodded. "I wonder where she went..."

"Hm?" A ring from Vert's phone caused her to pull it out and examine it. "It's from E-Sha..."

"Who's E-Sha?" Nepgear asked. "S-Sha said her name before she left the Basilicom..."

Vert shrugged. "I'm not quite sure... But she left a message on S-Sha's cell..."

"What's it say?" I asked.

Vert nodded and began reading the message. "S-Sha has gone up to the Golden Summit and taken a million ran-pigs up there to be sacrificed..."

"W-Wait, what!?" Nepgear and I stared at the message in disbelief.

"That doesn't sound very good..." Vert pursed her lip. "We should go to that Golden Summit place..."

"But where is it?" Nepgear asked.

I nodded towards the window that showed Leanbox and the golden towers. "It's probably that golden tower in Leanbox. If she really is a Gold Third member, then that's probably her source of power."

"I agree," Vert said. "I don't know what S-Sha's planning, but we better hurry up there!"

We nodded and hurried over to the golden tower, the Golden Summit...

* * *

The gigantic doors to the tower had been left ajar, so we had entered. Upon entering, we were met with an interior of a spatial void and multiple transparent, floating platforms.

Due to her being able to temporarily materialize in the Golden Summit, we had met E-Sha upon entering—who looked practically identical to S-Sha, except with a quieter voice and green eyes—and, through texting, E-Sha explained how she had saved S-Sha by putting S-Sha's soul into her body, allowing the two of them to inhabit E-Sha's body.

She then went on to explain how someone had made S-Sha believe that their body was breaking, causing S-Sha to seek out a new body, resulting in rituals of equivalent exchange to create a new body. That had been the reason why S-Sha was going to use the one million ran-pigs: to create a body for herself.

With those last words, we had left E-Sha to navigate up the Golden Summit.

Shortly after, we had encountered the Adult Neptune, who revealed to be part of the secret organization, AffimaX. Of course, Vert, Nepgear and I were forced to fight her. However, even though she had multiple chances to kill us, she had stopped fighting and let us pass before leaving.

Deciding not to question her intentions, we continued to climb up. Eventually, we had encountered Dogoo Man and Dogoo Lady, along with S-Sha. There, S-Sha had explained how she had been transferred into E-Sha's body due to some movie accident.

After telling her anticlimactic tale, S-Sha had left to go perform the ritual, leaving us to fight the two human-like Dogoos. We had defeated and convinced them of how S-Sha was in the wrong. Doing so, they guided us to the top of the tower.

Reaching the towers top, we found S-Sha on her knees in front of the ritual circle with the one million caged ran-pigs. A look of distraught was painted on her face.

"S-Sha! Stop!" Dogoo Man called out.

"S-Sha, dear! Wait a second!" Dogoo Lady called out.

S-Sha turned to them, her eyes were flickering with pure rage. "Dogoo Man, Lady! Recount the ran-pigs!"

"H-Huh?" The two Dogoos stared at S-Sha with confusion. "B-But we're not on your side right now..."

I let out a sigh. "Just do it..."

They then quickly went over to the caged ran-pigs and Dogoo Man began counting them. "One...two...three..."

I turned to Nepgear. "How long do you think this is going to take?"

Nepgear shrugged. "I-I don't know..."

"Nine hundred ninety-nine thousand and nine hundred ninety-nine..."

We spun back to Dogoo Man. "How in hell did he count so fast!?"

Dogoo Lady let out a giggle. "Dogoo Man has trained every part of himself to be super refined..."

"S-Sha, we're missing one," Dogoo Man said.

"What!? There were definitely a million here earlier!" S-Sha claimed.

"Not anymore..." I materialized my blade. "Vert, Nepgear. Help me take S-Sha down!"

They nodded and activated their HDD forms before materializing their weapons. "S-Sha we'll stop you!"

S-Sha let out a sigh before allowing a golden light to wash over her. She emerged in the form she had used back at the arena. "So...you think you can beat me, Vert? Even though you've already lost once?"

Vert nodded. "It'll be much easier this time. I have Nepgear and Silver with me!"

S-Sha let out a sigh and materialized her sword. "It's your funeral. I might even use your body instead..."

At S-Sha's final words, transparent cards appeared in front of her and she swiped up on two of them. Out of nowhere, lightning shot down and charged the sword, crackling with lightning.

In an instant, S-Sha was in front of us, ready to strike us down.

I slowed down time and engulfed my blade with my Devils' energy. I then slashed at S-Sha's blade as time resumed.

The two blades smashed against one another and locked S-Sha and I into a battle to overtake the other.

While she glared at me, S-Sha jumped back before running to uppercut me with her blade.

I jumped back, receiving a burning cut to my chin. While I recovered, S-Sha rushed towards me.

Before I could be struck down, a beam struck S-Sha in her side and knocked her away.

I took the opportunity and quickly slammed my blade down onto her.

However, S-Sha rolled out of the way and kicked me away. As I recovered, I found S-Sha in my face.

Before she could attack me once again, Vert struck her down with multiple barrages of strikes.

S-Sha crashed to the floor before forcing herself to her feet. Her Gold Form broke. "N-No... I'll take your bodies and save E-Sha..."

As the two CPUs reverted back to normal, we watched as E-Sha's spirit materialized in front of S-Sha. "S-Sha, I'm fine. This body isn't breaking..."

S-Sha shook her head. "Then what's this feeling of pain I'm feel—"

E-Sha just stared at S-Sha. "What feeling? Everything has always felt the same to me..."

S-Sha could only return E-Sha's stare. "Then what was that feeling I had earlier?"

E-Sha shook her head. "I was worrying about you..."

S-Sha stood there quietly while we watched her. "Then... I don't need a new body?"

E-Sha shook her head. "No, you don't. Everything's fine the way it is now..."

"I-I'm sorry, E-Sha..." S-Sha bowed her head as she struggled to speak through her trembling lips. "I-I...just didn't want to lose you..."

E-Sha simply just smiled and set her hands onto S-Sha's shoulders. "It's alright...S-Sha."

"Y-Yeah..." S-Sha nodded as E-Sha's form entered S-Sha. S-Sha then turned back to us. "Vert, do me a favor and destroy the crystal..."

"The crystal?" Vert pointed towards a crystal that sat on a tall golden pedestal. "That one?"

S-Sha nodded. "Yes. That is the source of my power. It takes CPUs' share energy and converts it to us. When I had climbed this tower, that crystal had given me these Golden Powers. However, they have just brought me pain. Please, destroy it..."

Vert nodded and threw her spear at the crystal. Upon contact, the crystal was shattered into millions of bits. S-Sha let out a final sigh as the crystal's golden light faded away. "Thank you..."

Vert smiled back at S-Sha. "No problem. Can I confirm that Leanbox is back in my possessions?"

S-Sha shrugged. "I didn't care for the place. I just used it to help accomplish my goal. You can have it," S-Sha turned to Dogoo Man and Lady. "Dogoo Man, Lady, let's head off..."

They nodded before quickly following S-Sha out of the tower.

Vert let out a sigh as we watched them leave. "Well, looks like this whole mess is over and done with..."

Nepgear nodded. "I'm glad we got back Leanbox and helped out those two..."

I turned to face her. "You think everyone else is doing alright?"

Nepgear shrugged. "Probably. At least we're done here..."

I nodded and turned to Vert. "Do you mind if we stay with you for a bit before heading to Planeptune?"

Vert simply shook her head. "Take as much time as you need."

"Thanks," I smiled before Nepgear and I began following Vert out of the Golden Summit...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here is the end of Vert's story. I'm sorry that this was short, but I just felt like it was getting too repetitive writing out some of the stuff, so I summed it up a bit. So, since the four stories are over, we'll end the Gold Third story soon and move onto the Heart Dimension. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Would you rather spend your last day alive with the people you care about or sacrifice it all to try to find a possible way to live longer?**


	148. Chapter 148

Chapter 148

 **Tolise's POV**

As Neptune and I returned to the Basilicom from our quest, we found Histoire with IF and Compa. Neptune waved at them. "Heya! What's going on?"

"Oh, welcome home, you two," Histoire smiled at us as we approached the table that everyone was gathered at. "IF was just telling me about what had been going on in the other nations..."

"Really?" I turned my attention to IF. "So, how are the others doing?"

IF nodded. "Well, while we were dealing with our problems, Noire and Uni were dealing with the Order, Vert and Nepgear were trying to stop a million ran-pigs from being summoned, and Blanc and her sisters were trying to demolish a License System while trying to stop the spread of the delusional monsters. All of which were linked to AffimaX in some way."

"Wow! Everyone has been so busy! Even lonely Noire!" A smile crossed Neptune's face.

"That reminds me of something. What about Hikan and Silver?" I asked.

IF shrugged. "They're probably somewhere with the other CPUs..."

"Well, what now?" Neptune asked Histoire.

Histoire's expression turned serious. "Now is the time to strike back against the secret organization of AffimaX."

Compa cocked her head. "But how do we find them?"

Histoire simply smiled. "Based on the information we have gathered, it is a battleship up in the skies. However, we don't have a location on it yet. So, while I have a hacker help us find it, you four will head off and gather the others."

IF and I exchanged looks before turning to Histoire. "Histoire—not to sound rude—why do Tolise and I have to come along?"

Histoire nodded towards Compa and Neptune. Our attention turned to them.

"Compa, since we're visiting the others, let's bring them all delicious cakes as souvenirs!" Neptune suggested.

Compa nodded. "We'll make all the CPUs delicious cakes to eat!"

I let out a dry laugh. "I-I see... It's because they need adult supervision..."

IF let out a deep breath. "Basically, we have to be their babysitters..."

Histoire nodded. "I'll trust them to you two while I get preparations ready..."

I let out a groan and faced IF. "C'mon. Let's get going..."

She nodded. "Y-Yeah..."

* * *

"Man, it feels like it's been so long since I've been to Leanbox!" Neptune said as we arrived in Leanbox's capital city.

I shrugged. "I think I've only been here once, so I don't know what's changed..."

IF shrugged. "It doesn't matter what's changed. We need to focus on finding Vert and Nepgear."

Compa let out a groan. "But we don't know where they are..."

I blinked as I stared at the sight in front of me. "How about we ask that guy over there...?"

"W-What is that!?" Neptune and Compa stared at the creature with horror.

"Hm?" The Dogoo turned to us. "Why hello! Did you come over here to check out my well-defined biceps?"

I shook my head while I stared at the Dogoo in shock. "N-No, actually..."

In front of us was a Dogoo with a muscular, human body wearing only a pair of black speedos.

"Gooman, you're scaring them," another Dogoo said as she approached. "They clearly came here to see my sexy body anyways. Right, boy?"

I took a double take as I stared at the sight standing before me. "N-No... I didn't..."

Now standing there was, not only a muscular Dogoo, a Dogoo lady with a very curved body, wearing only a pair of red undergarments. It was most likely a woman, while the muscly one was most likely a male.

"What about you girls?" The Dogoo Lady got in front of Compa and Neptune. "Did you come here to take notes on my sexy body?"

"EWWWW!" Compa stared at the sight in front of her with disgust.

Neptune simply just tried her best to smile. "N-No... S-Sorry..."

IF stood by my side. "How come this is the type of shit I have to deal with...?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. But at least it makes travelling interesting..."

IF let out a sigh. "I guess..."

"Hm?"The Dogoo Man suddenly perked up and faced a certain direction, a smile appearing on his face. "Hey! Silver, care for a rematch?"

"Huh?!" Upon hearing Silver's name, we all spun to the direction Dogoo Man was facing. Walking towards us were Nepgear and Silver, followed creepily close by Vert. "It's really them!"

"Hey, what's up?" As they approached us, Silver smiled at us while Nepgear broke from him and hugged her sister, Vert glaring at them.

"So this is where you went..." IF let out a sigh. "At least you didn't get killed..."

"So, what's been going on?" Silver asked. "And why are you guys here?"

I nodded. "Actually, Histoire has informed us of how the main issues in each nation has been solved. So, we're gathering everyone up to get ready to attack AffimaX's battleship."

Nepgear's eyes began to sparkle. "It's a battleship!? What's the size?! What's it made out of!?"

Neptune stared worriedly at her sister. "Even after all this time, Nepgear is still Nepgear..."

Silver shrugged. "Sure, I'll head to Planeptune," he looked over at Vert and Nepgear. "What about you two?"

They nodded. "It is fine by me," Vert said.

Nepgear shrugged. "I don't mind."

Silver turned back to face us. "Well, since you've heard our answers, we'll be heading off to Planeptune now."

I nodded as the three of them walked off. I turned back to IF, Compa and Neptune. "Now then, where to next?"

IF smiled. "Lastation."

* * *

"Wow! Lastation still looks as dark and lonely as ever!" Neptune said as we reached Lastation's capital city.

I nodded. "Surprisingly, it hasn't changed too much..."

"Where do you think Uni and Noire are at?" Compa asked.

Neptune formed a grin. "That's easy! Noire is probably sulking in a corner about being a loner while Uni is trying to find her!"

"Who are you calling a loner?"

"EEK!" As Neptune spun around, she saw Noire and Uni standing behind her. "H-Hey, Noire...! H-How's it hanging, buddy?"

"Don't 'buddy' me!" Noire flicked Neptune's forehead. "I heard everything you just said! I came to investigate because people were reporting a loud bunch of people!"

We watched silently as Neptune shriveled up into a corner. "H-Hey... W-We just got back together... W-We shouldn't be so aggressive with each other... W-We should be hugging and stuff..."

Noire let out a huff before putting on a smile. "I guess you're right. It's good to see you, Neptune."

"Anyways, the reason why we came here wasn't actually to see you," IF stated.

Noire let out a groan. "I figured. So, what is it?"

"We actually came here because we needed you and Uni to go to Planeptune's Basilicom," I said.

Noire now wore a puzzled expression. "Planeptune's Basilicom? Why? What's going on?"

"Histoire is going to find AffimaX's base and we're going to get all the CPUs to help us beat them up!" Compa said.

Noire nodded. "I like that idea. We'll go. But it's only because we have a grudge with AffimaX. It's not like I miss everyone or anything...!"

Uni just stared at her sister sympathetically. "N-Noire..."

Neptune formed a wide grin. "Alright, looks like Noire is back to her usual, friend-wanting self again..."

At Neptune's words, Noire's eyebrows twitched. "Neptune, what did you just say?"

"N-Nothing, Noire..." Neptune let out a dry laugh. "Oh! Look at the time! It's time to get going to Lowee!"

"H-Hey! Get back here!" As Neptune dashed off, Noire chased after her, leaving us with Uni.

"Here, Uni!" Compa waddled up to Uni and placed two boxes of the cakes in her hands.

"U-Um... Thanks?" Uni stared at the cakes with confusion. "I-I don't know what these are for, but I guess I'll take them."

"We made cakes for everyone," I said. "Those are yours."

"Anyway, let's hurry to Lowee," IF said as her eyes fixed onto Noire's chase for Neptune. "Right after Nep stops being such a damn idiot..."

I shook my head. "I don't think that'll be happening anytime soon..."

* * *

I let out a sigh—resulting in me being able to see my icy breath—and looked over at Neptune, who was clinging to my arm. "Neptune, why are you still clinging to me?"

While Neptune and Compa had been shivering at Lowee's cold temperatures, we had made our way to Lowee's capital city.

"I-I-It's s-s-s-so cold!" Neptune chattered through her frosted lips. "W-W-Where are the Hot Pockets when you need them!?"

I let out a laugh and pulled her closer to me. "Neptune, I think you mean hot hands."

Neptune let out a giggle as she rubbed her cheek against me. "I don't know! I think your face is pretty hot right now!"

While I ignored Neptune's comment, my face continued to redden. "Neptune, I worry about you sometimes... And why are you freezing? You're wearing a hoodie."

Neptune let out a dry laugh. "I-I'm not exactly wearing anything under this..."

I facepalmed. "Geez..."

"I-I should have brought a coat..." Compa said through her chattering teeth.

IF let out a groan and nodded towards a nearby guild. "Since you guys won't stop complaining about how cold it is—because you didn't bring a coat—let's just go into the guild for a bit."

So, we followed IF into the warm, toasty guild. Compa let out a relieved sigh. "It feels so much better in here..."

IF simply shook her head. "Look, we're just here to find Blanc and her sisters. We're not here for a vacation..."

"Excuse me," we turned to the voice of a guild receptionist. "Are you all acquaintances of Blanny?"

I blinked. _Blanny?_

IF nodded, ignoring Blanc's nickname. "Yeah, do you know where she is?"

The guild receptionist nodded as we walked over to her. "Yes, she's off doing a quest. She should be back soon though."

"I'm first!" As we turned back to the doors to the guild, Ram ran through the doors, followed closely by Rom.

"I-I'm second...!" Rom said.

Blanc let out a sigh as she walked through the door. "Don't be so noisy, you two..."

Rom and Ram bowed their heads. "Sorry..."

"Hey! Hey! Blanc!" Neptune sped over to Blanc and tackled her with a hug. "It's good to see ya, Blanny Blanny Bii!"

Blanc stared at Neptune with dull eyes. "It's good to see you too, Neptune. Now, can you please stop clinging to me?"

Neptune let out a laugh before pulling herself away from Blanc. "Sorry..."

"Hey, is Hikan with you?" I asked.

Blanc shook her head. "He's off helping C-Sha with something right now..."

I crossed my arms. "I see..."

"So, why are you all here?" Blanc asked.

"Oh! Are those cakes?!" Ram pointed at the cake boxes Compa held in her hands. "Can we have some?"

Compa nodded. "Yes! They're for you after all!"

"Yay!" Ram and Rom let out squeals as they each took a cake box.

"Anyways," IF turned her attention back to Blanc. "We're actually here to get you three and Hikan to group up at Planeptune's Basilicom."

Blanc cocked her head. "Why? What's going on?"

"We're gathering all the other CPUs together to go attack AffimaX's airship base," I answered. "Once you guys come with us, we'll be ready to head off."

Blanc let out a deep breath. "I'm fine with that."

"Yeah, same here..." We all turned our heads up to see Hikan and C-Sha sitting on a pillar. "Hey, what's up?"

"W-Wait! W-When did you two get here!?" Compa stared at them with shock.

They both hopped off the pillar. Hikan let out a laugh. "We actually just got here. We just wanted to hear your story first."

"So, does that mean you'll be leaving, Blanny?" C-Sha asked Blanc.

Blanc nodded. "Yeah, I'll have to go and take out that damn organization. Are you not coming, C-Sha?"

C-Sha shook her head. "As much as I'd like to come with you people, I have to protect this nation. You can fight for the both of us."

Blanc let out a sigh. "Alright. I guess."

I turned to Hikan. "So are you all ready to head off to Planeptune with us?"

Hikan nodded. "Yeah, sure."

Neptune formed a wide grin. "Then let's Nep all the way to the Basilicom of Planeptune!"

* * *

After Histoire's briefing, she sent us coordinates to where the flying battleship was hiding. Before we had gone up, Uni had gone off somewhere to go do whatever.

Shortly after she returned, we boarded the gigantic battleship.

We all took a moment to take in the sight of battleship. Neptune let out a dry laugh. "This looks like the Star Destroyer from Star Wars..."

Silver let out a sigh. "Although I hate to admit it, you're kind of right..."

As we began walking through the Star Wars-like ship, we heard a voice.

"Halt. Proceed any further and I'll be forced to stop you all."

I sighed. "Oh god... It's that one person..."

IF smiled. "It's you... We know you're here, so come out!"

At IF's command, Steamax stepped away from the shadows. "…"

"Woah! A real life ninja!" Ram and Rom stared at Steamax with sparkling eyes.

Nepgear stared at Steamax with wonder. "I wonder what's inside of him..."

"W-Wait! Y-You're...!" Uni stared at Steamax with a look mixed with confusion and anger.

We turned to Uni. Noire stared at her. "Uni, do you know this person?"

Uni glared at Steamax. "Is this what you mean by you lied to me, Jiro!?"

"Jiro?" Neptune and I exchanged looks.

Steamax just stared at Uni. "I have no idea what you mean. I'm the ninja, Steamax, serving under Affimojas."

While Uni glared at Steamax, her anger quickly subsided and her eyes flickered with determination. "I see... I know what you mean now..."

Steamax's attention turned back to us. "If you still wish to defy us, you'll have to pass me..."

I shrugged. "We did it once. We'll do it again..."

Silver nodded. "How about we choose a few to fight him? We don't all need to waste our energy fighting him."

Uni shook her head. "I don't care! I'm fighting!"

Hikan shrugged. "Alright, I'm down. But how are we going to choose who fights?"

"Oh! I know!" Neptune piped up. She turned to me. "Let's do Rock-paper-scissors again!"

I shrugged. "Sure."

After a dragged on game of Rock-paper-scissors, Uni, Noire, Blanc and I lost, resulting in us having to fight.

I sighed and activated my Devil's energy while the CPUs entered their HDD forms and everyone else formed a crowd around us and Steamax. "Alright, let's get this over with..."

Steamax unsheathed his blade and stared at us. "Since that's over and done with, allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Steamax, Affimojas' right hand man! CPUs, prepare yourselves!"

We materialized our weapons and charged towards Steamax.

I was the first to reach him. As I swung at him, Steamax knocked my sword away with his giant shuriken. While I was left open, he used his katana to swing at me.

I quickly slowed down time and kicked the katana away, resuming time.

While Steamax was left open, Blanc and Noire brought their weapons down onto Steamax.

Steamax reacted by jumping away from the CPUs' blows and threw the shuriken at them while they struggled to pull their weapons out of the floor.

Noire and Blanc, managing to free their weapons, struck the shuriken away. As they did so, Steamax appeared in front of them and knocked them both to the floor.

Before they were decapitated by Steamax, Uni blasted his katana away as I reached him.

Uni, managing to get several shots onto Steamax, hopped away and, filling my fists with energy, slammed them against Steamax. The force caused him to crash against the wall before falling to the floor.

I let my Devil's energy subside while the CPUs reverted back to their original forms. We all then gathered around Steamax. "Now then, let's take this guy back to the Basilicom..."

"N-No..." Steamax forced himself to his feet, his body trembling. "I-I'll stop you all..."

IF let out a sigh. "Well, if you're going to be this stubborn, then we'll just take you to a scrap yard..."

Just as Steamax tensed up, a tranquilizer dart suddenly jabbed into the side of his neck and he fell to the floor.

We all turned to Uni, who had shot the dart. She stared back at us. "W-What? All I did was make him fall asleep..."

Neptune let out a dry laugh. "For a second, I thought you killed him..."

Hikan shrugged. "Whatever. At least we didn't have to scrap him..."

Silver nodded. "Yeah. Now, let's get going."

Taking one final glance at Steamax, we all continued forward...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This is the end of this chapter! Next chapter will finish the Gold Third Story and we'll move onto the Heart Dimension story! Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Cake or pie?**


	149. Chapter 149

Chapter 149

"Well, well... It looks like you have all finally showed up..." The bulky robot turned to us as we arrived in the large control center room.

In front of us stood a well-armored robot. His silver base structure was bulkier compared to Steamax's and he wore plates of armor that covered every part of his body. His gleaming red eyes shined through his helmeted head. He also wore a metal red cape and had a giant greatsword with a gem embedded at it's hilt.

"I am Affimojas, leader of AffimaX!" Affimojas announced. He stared at us. "You CPUs shall all perish here today!"

"Or, you could simply surrender and return everything to the way it was before," Noire suggested. "Otherwise, you won't like what will happen to you!"

Affimojas let out a laugh. "Surely you're joking! You have all lost so many shares! There's no way you could defeat me!"

I watched as Vert, Blanc, Noire and Neptune activated their HDD forms.

Vert shook her head. "We may have lost many shares, but we've regained them!"

Noire nodded. "We may have started with nothing, but now we have some shares because we kept fighting!"

Blanc smirked. "In a way, we already have way more shares than before because we're fighting for the people of Gamindustri!"

Neptune nodded. "That's right. We're fighting to protect Gamindustri and it's people. We won't let people like you disrupt it's peace!"

Affimojas stared at them as he unsheathed his greatsword and faced the four of them. "So be it. I'll crush you all here! A world tainted by delusion is a world that creates a fountain of money!"

Neptune turned back to the rest of us. "Let us handle this."

Nepgear shook her head. "Neptune! No—"

"It'll be alright, Nepgear," Neptune reassured her. "We'll win, no matter what..."

As Nepgear shriveled back, we all backed away and allowed the four goddesses to materialize their weapons.

Neptune formed a grin. "It's been a while since we've all fought together."

Vert nodded. "It has. How about we show this greedy fool the power of the four goddesses?"

Blanc sneered. "You don't need to tell me twice!"

As the four CPUs got ready to lunge towards Affimojas, he glared at them. "You CPUs shall perish here!"

* * *

 **Third Person POV**

"Ha!"

At Affimojas' last words, Blanc, Vert, Noire and Neptune all sped towards him.

The four of them attacked from all sides of him, swinging their weapons at him.

Affimojas blocked two of the oncoming strikes and let his cape absorb the other two. His sword filled with flames and he slashed at the CPUs.

They quickly jumped away. Noire and Vert stared at the cape. "What is that cape made out of!?"

"GAHAHA!" The room echoed with Affimojas' booming laughter. "You CPUs have NO chance of defeating me unless you can destroy this cape!"

Neptune stepped up with Blanc. "Then we'll strip you of that cape!"

Affimojas sneered. "I'd like to see you all try!"

"You'll regret those words!" Blanc barked as Neptune followed her towards Affimojas.

As the two of them sped around Affimojas and aimed for his cape, they both filled their weapons with rainbow energy and smashed against it.

The force—cracking the cape—caused Affimojas to be blown away and crash into a wall. As he pulled himself out, Noire and Vert sped towards him.

Noire lunged forward and slashed at Affimojas.

He quickly countered by parrying Noire's slash and headbutting her away.

As Noire skidded away, Vert swooped in and performed a barrage of fast thrusts.

While Affimojas blocked the strikes, he was pushed back against the wall. His blade filled with crackling lightning and he slashed at Vert, causing her to back away.

While Affimojas moved himself away from the wall, the four CPUs all grouped back together. Affimojas stared at them. "You are all fools! If you think you can truly defeat me, then come on and try!"

Noire formed a smile. "Is that so?"

Blanc nodded. "Looks like you don't know how badly we could kick your robot ass!"

Vert raised her weapon. "Then how about we show him?"

Neptune nodded and also raised her weapon. "Let us finish him and bring back peace to Gaminudstri!"

Affimojas just smiled. "By the end of this, you'll be wishing you were my subordinates!"

The four CPUs all lunged at Affimojas once again. Nearing him, Noire and Neptune's blades were filled with rainbow energy and they both slashed at Affimojas.

Affimojas reacted by stepping to the side to avoid one strike and parrying the other.

While he was locked in his stance, Vert and Blanc swooped behind him. Filling her weapon with the same rainbow energy, Vert barraged the cape with multiple strikes.

As more cracks began forming at the cape, Affimojas spun around and slashed at them both.

Vert used her spear to guide the sword to the floor, providing Blanc with an opening to strike.

Blanc's axe filled itself with a large amount of rainbow energy and she smashed it against the cape, smashing it to bits and causing Affimojas to crash to the floor.

While Affimojas forced himself to his feet, Neptune came down from above and—once again filling her weapon with rainbow energy—slashed at him, creating a blinding light.

As the light faded, Neptune turned to Affimojas to see him crash to the floor—unable to muster any strength.

The four CPUs gathered around Affimojas. Noire let out a laugh. "What were you saying about us wishing we were your subordinates?"

Despite his critical condition, Affimojas let out a laugh. "This is what I meant..."

Noire stared at him with confusion. "Huh?"

A dark energy suddenly erupted from Affimojas and his blade was enveloped by the same dark energy. While the CPUs stared in horror, Affimojas suddenly sprang back up and sliced at all of them.

"AGH!"

With his one slash, the CPUs all fell to the floor, unable to muster up any energy. "H-How did he... With one blow..." Vert tried pushing herself up.

Neptune also tried. "I-It's no use... I-I can't muster any strength..."

Noire gritted her teeth and glared up at Affimojas. "W-What did you do….?"

Blanc formed a fist. "It's...as if all our shares were taken from us..."

"GAHAHA!" While everyone gathered around the four CPUs, Affimojas let out another laugh. "You're partially right! This gem in my sword has the ability to drain your shares from you! It's called an Anti-Crystal!"

Uni glared at Affimojas. "How the hell did you get such a cheat item!?"

Nepgear shook her head. "Arfoire was working with him and she had the same crystal. It's only natural he'd have it."

Affimojas sneered. "If you wish to have your oh-so precious CPUs back, then I demand a gajillion Credits from each of the nations!"

Compa gasped. "A-A gajillion!? B-But we can't gather that much money so soon!"

"I demand a gajillion each!" Affimojas boomed.

"Damnit!" Blanc cursed. "I can't believe we're being used for this faggot's profit!"

"I don't know why that's surprising you," Affimojas said. "This isn't the first time it has happened. In fact, I've been doing it to you four CPUs for quite some time now!"

Neptune's eyes widened. "Y-You mean..."

Affimojas nodded. "Yes! I'm the one who owns the General Summary Site! I've been making so much profit by summarizing half-truths about you four! Not only did all your people begin losing faith in you, but I profited so much because of it!"

"You monster!" Vert could only glare at Affimojas.

"I'm being most generous by only offering a gajillion each," Affimojas said. "You're all relics of the past! Besides, people are even losing interest in the Gold Third. They are simply now spectacles of what they once were. Just like you CPUs!"

"It doesn't matter! We can't possibly get you four gajillion Credits in a day!" Uni shouted. "It's just not possible!"

"Oh, but it is..."

At C-Sha's voice, everyone turned to see all four of the Gold Third members walk into the room.

Affimojas stared at them. "Are you saying that you four somehow managed to produce four gajillion in such a short time span?"

B-Sha nodded. "Of course! Maybe even more!"

"HUH!?" Tolise and IF stared at B-Sha with shock. "T-This is B-Sha, right!? The same, stingy one!?"

B-Sha nodded. "Of course! I owe a debt to Nep-Nep that no amount of Credits can pay off anyways!"

Hikan chuckle. "I guess not even I Owe Yous..."

S-Sha nodded and turned to the four CPUs. "CPUs, here."

"H-Huh?" S-Sha tossed four crystals right in front of each of them. Each crystal was mixed with a gold and blue color. "T-These are Share Crystals, right?"

B-Sha shook her head. "They're not just any Share Crystals! These Crystals are infused with the powers of our Golden Crystals!"

C-Sha nodded. "The energy inside each of those things are strong enough to even create new CPUs."

Neptune wrapped her hands around the crystal and forced herself to her feet. She turned to Gold Third. "Thank you, Gold Third. We won't let you down!"

As the other three CPUs got to their feet and held their crystals, Neptune turned to them. "You three ready?"

They nodded as they closed their eyes. The energy from the crystals began to shine and they were all enveloped in a rainbow light.

"N-No way!" Affimojas began to back up as he stared at the CPUs in horror.

The light faded and the CPUS emerged in new forms, pulsing out energy.

Neptune's purple hair and color scheme had changed to match the color of her dodger blue eyes. Her hair had grown longer and the braids now spiraled around each other.

Lastly, her clips were now a pair of X-Clips and her attire—while remaining the same mostly—now had bits of transparent purple running through them. On her collar, the Planeptune logo was etched onto it.

Neptune's weapon was now a thin longsword with a purple energy acting as the blade.

Noire's new form now showed no skin. She now wore a skin-tight blue jumpsuit. Over that, she wore bulky black plate pieces that covered her body.

While her eye color remained the same, she now wore a blue visor over her right eye. On the black chest piece, the Lastation logo was engraved onto it.

Noire's weapon was now a broadsword filled with blue energy.

Blanc's form also gave no skin. She now wore a skin-tight blue suit, the sleeves to the limbs being black. There was also bulky white plating at her hands.

Her hair was now an aqua blue color and she wore a blue cap with the Lowee logo on it. She also wore a pair of large white angel-like wings.

Blanc's weapon remained an axe. However, the head was now much larger and the handle was now curved to the shape of a crescent.

Vert—still showing the same amount of skin—now wore a gray, cut-off piece with green straps holding the piece on. She also wore a black short jacket piece with green highlighting and the Leanbox logo etched onto it's collar.

The rest of Vert's white and gray attire had been changed to a black and gray—or green. Hovering at her side was an X-shaped pair of black and green wings. Also, her hair—now wearing a black horn—was a dark shade of green.

Vert's weapon remained a spear. However, it's head was thicker.

Noire stared at herself before forming a grin. "This power is amazing! It's practically pouring out of me!"

Vert nodded. "This power really is something..."

Blanc let out a laugh. "I feel like I can't lose!"

Neptune smiled. "This strength... I can feel everyone's hopes and prayers flowing through me..."

B-Sha nodded. "This is NEXT Form! The evolution to the CPUs' transformation!"

S-Sha nodded. "Those prayers you're feeling are everyone's hopes and dreams. If you can turn that into energy, you can make miracles come true..."

Neptune smiled back at the Gold Third members. "Gold Third. Thank you, once again."

Affimojas let out a laugh. "Even with those new forms, you still won't be able to defeat me!"

The four CPUs turned back to Affimojas. "We'll see about that!"

In an instant Vert and Noire were in front of Affimojas. Before he could react, they began speeding around Affimojas, attacking him as they sped by and left trails of light.

After several lightning-fast strikes, they jumped away and Blanc came down from above.

Her axe filled with rainbow energy and her white energy. Just as Affimojas recovered from the strikes, Blanc slammed her axe down onto Affimojas, smashing him into the floor.

Blanc then flew away and allowed Neptune to speed towards Affimojas as he struggled to his feet.

Neptune's sword filled with purple and rainbow energy and she slashed at Affimojas, creating a blinding light.

As the light faded, Affimojas was trapped into a energy-filled cube. Neptune then lowered her blade and the cube exploded.

Affimojas then crashed against a wall and fell to the floor once again. Affimojas pushed himself back up.

As the four CPUs gathered around him, the dark aura erupted once again from Affimojas. "N-No! I won't lose!"

"What's wrong with him?" Tolise asked.

"That's the same aura that made K-Sha go berserk," Noire said.

Blanc nodded. "It's also the same thing that took control of C-Sha..."

"Then how do we stop it?" Nepgear asked.

Neptune let out a sigh and raised her blade. "We'll have to cut him down..."

"N-Neptune!?" Nepgear stared at her sister in horror.

"Then let me do it!" Steamax suddenly appeared.

Affimojas stared at Steamax. "Steamax, you dare raise your blade against your master!?"

Steamax unsheathed his katana. "I'm not doing this as your student. I'm doing this as your friend..."

"Step away, Steamax," Neptune spoke up. "No one is going to die."

Everyone turned to Neptune. "Then what are you going to do?"

Neptune smiled as her sword erupted with energy. "S-Sha said that we could create miracles if we pray," she turned to Steamax. "Pray, Steamax. Pray for his safety."

"A-Alright..." Steamax gave a timid nod.

Neptune then raised her blade and leapt towards Affimojas. In an instant, Neptune slashed at him and left a searing slash across his armor.

"AGH!" Affimojas then fell to the floor.

"G-General!" Steamax ran over to Affimojas.

Neptune smiled. "Don't fret. He is fine. I simply cut that dark energy out of him."

Silver turned to her. "Then, does that mean it's over?"

Neptune nodded. "Yes, we have won. Let us return to Planeptune."

* * *

 **Tolise's POV**

We had hurried down from the battleship and, as the CPUs reverted back to their original forms, began to walk back to Planeptune.

"Look, it's the CPUs and the Gold Third!" A citizen shouted as we entered Planeptune's capital city.

"H-Huh?" Vert stared at the people as they all gathered around. "How come everyone remembers us?"

Silver shrugged. "Maybe, whenever Neptune cut that energy out of Affimojas, it also restored everyone's memories of us."

Neptune formed a wide grin. "Of course! It's only because I'm the protagonists of protagonists!"

"Let's go tell Histy!" Hikan said. "Maybe she has some new info!"

We nodded and hurried towards the Planeptune Basilicom.

"Histy! Histy!" Neptune ran over to Histoire while she sat at the meeting table. "We defeated AffimaX and now everyone remembers us!"

Histoire nodded. "So I've heard. Congratulations, everyone. You have all done well..."

Neptune nodded. "Yeah! Now we can move onto Arc Five and finally have Co—"

Before Neptune could finish her fourth-wall-breaking sentence, a tremor cut her off. "W-What was that!?"

Suddenly, a Basilicom staff member ran into the room. "Histoire! We have an issue! There's a hole opening in the sky!"

We stared at the staff member in shock. "A-A hole in the sky!?"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This marks the end of the Gold Third story! Next chapter will be the start of the Heart Dimension story and the last story in the Megadimension Arc! The Heart Dimension Story should be around five to seven chapters long. Also, Colors of Darkness will be over with by the end of December or the first week of January. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **If you found out your best friend was a criminal, would you turn them into the police or help them out?**


	150. Chapter 150

Chapter 150

 **Hikan's POV**

"Look, here," Vert pointed towards her laptop screen. We all gathered around to see. Displaying on screen were multiple videos and images of the hole that had appeared in the sky. "To think that people have already begun reporting it..."

I nodded. "It's natural. If there was a tremor like that, who wouldn't notice? Besides, that thing looks like a black hole in the sky."

"Whatever it is, I get a bad feeling from it..." Noire said. "Let's go check it out."

Neptune, Vert and Blanc nodded. "Yeah!"

"W-Wait, can I come, Noire?" Uni asked.

Noire turned her head back to Uni and shook her head. "Sorry. I need you to stay here as backup."

Uni bowed her head. "Okay..."

Neptune shook her head. "Geez, Noire! You're so cruel to Uni!"

Vert nodded. "I agree with Neptune. You make it sound terrible everytime."

"Listen, Uni," Blanc placed her hands on Uni's shoulders. "We're leaving you and the other Candidates here because we're relying on you four to protect the nations for us while we're gone. Can you do that?"

Uni shook her sad demeanor away and nodded. "Yeah!"

"See, Noire? Why can't you be more like Blanc?" Neptune asked.

Noire glared at Neptune. "S-Shut up! At least I'm not a lazy bum!"

"Whatever, ya lonely loner!" Neptune stuck out her tongue.

"Anyways, we'll be off now," Blanc said.

Histoire nodded. "Please, proceed with caution..."

Neptune flashed Histoire a smile. "You can count on us, Histy!"

As the four of them dashed out of the Basilicom, Histoire let out a sigh. "Please, be safe..."

I stood beside Histoire. "I'm sure they'll be fine. C'mon, let's head upstairs."

"Alright..." Without any hesitation, Histoire followed us upstairs.

As we reached the Basilicom's living area, I turned to see a gloomy Nepgear. "Nepgear, what's wrong?"

Nepgear turned to me, wearing a frown. "I'm worried about Neptune and the others..."

I nodded. "Yeah, so am I. But I'm sure they'll be fine."

I watched as Nepgear forced herself to smile. "Y-Yeah. I guess you're right..."

"By the way," Tolise looked over at Nepgear. "Do you know where Silver is?"

"H-Huh?" She looked around the room, but Silver was nowhere to be found. "I-I don't know..."

"I took him to a special room for a bit..." Histoire answered. "He wasn't feeling good, so I had to take him there to help him out."

I stared at Histoire. "Histy, is it _that_?"

A grim expression appeared on Histoire's face. "Yes. It's finally beginning..."

"We'll worry about that afterwards," Tolise said. "Let's just get some rest for now."

* * *

I let out a sigh as I reached the balcony. "Knew it..."

"H-Huh?" Nepgear and Uni—who were in their HDD forms and on the balcony—turned back to me. "H-Hikan?!"

"Let me guess. You two were planning on sneaking up to that hole in the sky, weren't you?" I questioned them.

They stared at me with worried looks. "Please, don't try to stop us..."

I let out a chuckle. "Far from it, actually. I was actually going to go up there myself..."

Their faces brightened. "Y-You mean..."

"I swore that I'd protect you all, even if it did cost my life," I nodded and activated my HDD form. "So, yeah. I'm coming with you guys. But we have to hurry."

Nepgear and Uni gave firms nods. "Right!"

I stepped up to them and the three of us blasted up towards the starry night sky, hurrying towards the hole.

Upon entering, we were met by the sight of a maze of pathways. The place itself looked like a blue, simulated training room with it's gridded walls and floors.

We all landed on the floor. Uni stared at the place in awe. "What is this place?"

I shook my head. "That doesn't matter. C'mon, let's hurry and find the four of them."

We dashed our way through the large maze, killing any monster in our way. For some reason though, Nepgear had said that the monsters were all Zero Dimension monsters.

Eventually, we had found a long, open room. However, what was there was unexpected.

As we all entered the room, we stared at the sight with looks mixed with confusion and horror. "W-What the!?"

Nepgear stared at the person standing ahead. "U-Uzume? Is that you?"

"Oh? Sorry, Gearsy. I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm in a rush," Uzume said, her voice sounding way too calm. "I'll see you later..."

Behind Uzume stood the Dark CPU—Dark Purple—clutching all four of the CPUs tightly in it's fists. Uzume waved us off and disappeared off with the Dark CPU. "Until next time..."

I balled up a fist and smashed it against the floor. "DAMNIT!"

Nepgear crumpled to her knees. "U-Uzume... W-Why...?"

Uni gritted her teeth but shook her head. "C'mon! We have to hurry and report this back to Histoire!"

I picked myself off the floor. "Yeah... I got it..."

"C'mon, Nepgear," Uni hoisted Nepgear onto her back and we flew out of the area.

* * *

 **Tolise's POV**

"Shit..." I took a seat at one of the rows of seats in the Basilicom. "So, you're telling me that—even though Neptune and the others had their NEXT Forms—they were kidnapped by someone who looked like Uzume and the Dark CPU—which we had killed—right?"

Hikan nodded as he sat beside me. He looked over at Nepgear. "I'm just wondering how Nepgear's taking this..."

I looked over towards the front row where Nepgear sat with Uni. I nodded. "Yeah. Not only has Neptune been kidnapped, but it was by someone who looked like Uzume—a person she had a close bond with—and Silver isn't here to comfort her this time..."

"The girl has it rough..." Hikan stated. "But that's what makes her strong..."

"So, what now?" I asked.

"Uni already wrote a report to Histy. Everyone is getting ready to head off to Zero Dimension," Hikan explained.

I turned to him. "Why Zero Dimension?"

Hikan let out a sigh. "Those monsters we discovered in that hole were all Zero Dimension monsters. Plus, Uzume was there. So, the CPUs were most likely taken to Zero Dimension."

I nodded and stood up. "That makes sense. I'm gonna go check up on Nepgear."

Hikan also stood up. "Sure. Preparations should almost be done anyways."

As the two of us reached Nepgear and Uni, they hugged each other. Noticing us, they stood up. Hikan smiled. "I'm guessing you're feeling a bit better now, Nepgear?"

Nepgear gave a nod. "Y-Yeah..."

"We're ready!" Ram and Rom suddenly came barging through the glass doors and into the room where we were in.

"R-Ready..." Rom gave a small nod.

As IF, Compa and Histoire came in after them, Nepgear cocked her head. "Is Silver alright?"

Histoire nodded. "He's fine. I just made him rest for a bit. He'll join you all soon."

"Anyways," IF set the swirl mark console in front of us. "This is what we're using to get to Zero Dimension."

"Through my powers, I'll be able to create a small gate for you all to get there safely," Histoire explained.

"But how are we going to defeat that giant thing?" Compa asked. "It took two Nep-Neps, Uzume, Ge-Ge, Silver, Tolise and Hikan to defeat just one!"

I shrugged. "I don't think Silver, Hikan and I were needed to defeat it. It was just for safety measures."

"Still, Compa brings up a good point," Histoire admitted. "If that's the case, go ahead and gather the Gold Third to help you fight."

Nepgear nodded. "Right!"

* * *

"I guess it's best if we start here, huh?" I looked over at IF who stared at the game shop in front of her.

IF shrugged. "We're already in Planeptune. No need to come back."

Hikan nodded. "Right. Let's just get B-Sha and get to the other nations."

At Hikan's words, we followed IF into the game shop. Hearing the sound of the door's bell, B-Sha ran over to the door. "Hey, guys! How's it going?"

I let out a sigh. "Neptune and the other CPUs got kidnapped. So, we need your help with rescuing them."

For a moment, B-Sha stood there in shock. Then she turned back to us. "I see... but I'm not sure I could help you much. After we used our crystals to make those Share Crystals, we lost our godly powers. I'm not sure I'd be of much help..."

"Sure you would!" Chuko suddenly piped up. "You're plenty strong. You can do it!"

B-Sha let out a sigh. "Fine... I'll do it. But only if you'll test me to see if I'm strong enough."

IF nodded. "Sure."

"Hold on," I suddenly said. "First we have to head outside. Second, how about we fight in groups. That way we all don't have to keep fighting?"

IF nodded. "Alright. How about this time it'll be Compa, Tolise and I?"

B-Sha gave a thumbs-up. "Alright!"

We all quickly scurried out of the game store. While Chuko and everyone else sat on the sidewalk to watch our battle, IF, Compa and I stood ready to attack B-Sha.

B-Sha entered her Gold Form and smiled. "I'll fight you with the intention to klll!"

I formed a wide grin and let my Devil's energy erupt from me; the area around me crackled with red lightning. "That's the spirit! Don't hold back!"

Just as we all readied our weapons, B-Sha shot a rocket at us.

In an instant, IF had several throwing knives in her hands. Each one was stabbed into the rocket at the same time, creating an explosion.

The next second, B-Sha appeared in front of us. Before she could smack IF with her bazooka, I stepped in between them and guided the bazooka to the ground, trapping it in place.

As I pulled back my fist to hit B-Sha, she pulled the bazooka's trigger and the ground blew up.

Before anything could hit IF, I slowed down time and pushed her out of the way before letting time resume.

The rubble erupted into the skies, taking B-Sha and I with it. Time seemed to freeze as we stood on the rubble platforms and locked eyes.

B-Sha materialized a new bazooka and began firing blast after blast aimed at me.

Before each blast would hit me, I would jump to the next platform over while we continued to fall back to the earth.

Just before we crashed back to the ground, B-Sha and I lunged towards each other. The second I got within arm's-length, I grabbed B-Sha by her neck and slammed her down into the ground.

As I let her go and stood back to examine the rubble and crater surrounding B-Sha, she suddenly sprang up and headbutted me, causing me to stumble back.

Just as I recovered, I felt a punch force me to fall to the ground. Sensing something about to hit me, I rolled to my left, feeling a monstrous force to my right.

I kicked myself back to my feet and quickly threw a kick to my right.

B-Sha jumped back as the kick grazed her cheek and I hooked it back in.

The second B-Sha's feet touched the ground, Compa lunged from behind B-Sha and jabbed her massive syringe into her calf.

Before B-Sha could react quickly enough, she began to fall forward from her leg's numbness. In a flash, IF was in front of B-Sha. She kicked B-Sha up into the air and stabbed her right in her stomach.

"Ack!"

As B-Sha coughed blood onto IF's face, B-Sha smashed her head against IF.

IF stumbled back as she dropped B-Sha onto the ground.

"Haa..." We watched as B-Sha slowly pulled the knife out of her stomach. She tightened her grip on it and stared at us. "I-I...won't lose..."

A fiery golden aura erupted from B-Sha as her eyes turned white and lightning crackled from her.

Before any of us could react, B-Sha had already appeared in front of us.

Instinctively, I slowed down time. However, B-Sha's movements were still incredibly fast.

Catching me off guard, B-Sha jerked me close to her and stabbed the knife into my gut. I felt the energy slowly leaving my body as she pulled it out and kicked me away, forcing me to resume time.

I crashed into the rubble and pulled myself out.

Just as I did, I caught sight of IF throwing several energized knives at B-Sha's general direction.

Leaving a trail of golden light, B-Sha avoided them all and lunged towards IF. In the next few milliseconds, B-Sha kicked IF to the ground and snapped both of her legs and arms.

"AGGH!"

Just as IF let out a painful cry, B-Sha got ready to plunge the knife into IF's throat.

However, as Compa thrusted her syringe at B-Sha's back, B-Sha spun around and kicked the syringe away, following up by headbutting Compa to the ground.

As B-Sha spun back around and got ready to impale IF in her throat, I amplified my power and pounced at B-Sha.

Just before the knife could touch IF, I tackled B-Sha to the ground, dropping her knife. I pulled her back up with me and headbutted her away.

I stepped up to her before she recovered and swung a hook towards her jaw.

However, B-Sha quickly reacted by grabbing a hold of my arm and snapping it. I gritted my teeth.

Fighting through the pain, I swept her to the ground before she could loosen her grip on me. As she was slammed to the ground, I filled my fist with energy and smashed my fist into her jaw.

Blood came splattering onto my face upon impact as I felt several parts of her face break. I rose back to my feet and stared at B-Sha, spitting out blood. "Haaa... Haaa... S-Shit... Might've overdone that one..."

"K-Kidding..."

"…!"

The second I turned away from B-Sha, I felt a tremendous force strike the back of my head. I was then slammed into the ground, tasting the concrete and pavement. "Ggh..."

Using the little energy I had left, I used my feet to kick the attacker—B-Sha—away. I then forced myself to my feet while my body slowly healed. Also forcing herself to her feet was B-Sha, just as beat up as the three of us.

Through my bruises, I smiled. "I-I...think you're still plenty strong... C-Considering you...still almost managed to kill all three of us..."

"T-Thanks..." B-Sha forced a smile before collapsing onto the ruined street.

I let out a sigh and let my Devil's energy subside as my body continued to heal. It was then that I felt the full impacts of the fight. "O-Ow... M-Man... Really wish I had Silver's healing abilities right about now... O-Or Deadpool's... M-Maybe Wolverine's..."

Ignoring the thought of Mutants, I dragged myself over to B-Sha and let some of my Devil's energy heal her. As her consciousness began to recover, I quickly moved onto IF and Compa. I stared at the both of them. "Man... I feel sorry for the two of you..."

After the two of them had been healed and they were able to walk again, the others gathered around us, mainly B-Sha. IF sat beside her. "So, you gonna join?"

B-Sha nodded before letting out a sigh. "Now that I know I'm strong enough to save Nep-Nep, I'll go and do just that!"

"Wait, but who's going to help Chuko with the store?" I asked. "If B-Sha is coming with us, won't you need a replacement?"

Chuko bit her lip. "We have been getting a lot of business recently..."

"Oh! I have an idea! Wait right here!" Before any of us could call after Compa, she ran off. About half an hour later, she returned with Warechu. "Ta-da!"

Warechu stared at us all in confusion. "C-Chu? W-Wait... I-I thought I was going on a date with Compa!"

I let out a chuckle. "Oh, you poor rodent..."

"Mister Mouse, would you be kind enough to help Chuko with her store?" Compa asked Warechu.

Warechu instantly snapped to attention and his eyes glimmered with determination. "Anything for my lovely Compa, chu!"

Chuko just stared at Warechu. "Although this wouldn't normally be what I want, I'll have to make an exception this time. Thank you, everyone."

We nodded before heading off. Nepgear let out a sigh. "Alright. Off to Leanbox."

S-Sha just stared at us, seeming uninterested while Dogoo Man and Lady stood by her side. We had explained the situation to her. However, she wore no expression of worry. "I see... So the CPUs have been kidnapped..."

Nepgear nodded. "Yes. That's why we need your help in fighting against the enemy!"

Flipping her hair, S-Sha put on a pair of shades. "Not interested. The CPUs simply weren't strong enough. Go find someone else."

Nepgear pouted for a second before brightening back up. "Oh, I know! E-Sha, could you help us get back Vert and the other CPUs?"

As S-Sha took off her shades, her eyes suddenly changed color to green while her expression turned to a shy one. "Y-Yes..."

The change in S-Sha—which I was assuming to be E-Sha—suddenly switched back to her normal self. Her eyes flickered with anger. "That's sneaky... But if E-Sha wants to go, I'll go too..."

Nepgear formed a wide grin. "Yay!"

"But," S-Sha held up a hand to silence us. "I'll only come if you can defeat me in a battle, Nepgear. I need to see if that strength of yours is strong enough."

"H-Huh?! Just me!?" Nepgear stared at S-Sha in disbelief. "Y-You're joking, right!?"

"No, I want to fight you and that boy you're always with. Silver, I think," S-Sha stated. "Where is he, anyways?"

Nepgear began with twiddling with her index fingers as she bowed her head. "W-Well..."

"I'm here, don't worry..."

We all turned around to see Silver slowly walking towards us. A smile appeared on S-Sha's face. "Good..."

* * *

 **Silver's POV**

Certain circumstances had made me not realize what was going on. Certain circumstances had also made me have to find where everyone had gone. However, after figuring everything out, I arrived in Leanbox. Just in time to save Nepgear from a possible slaughter.

I materialized my blade and approached S-Sha as I activated Level One and amplified my body to act at a hundred percent. I struggled to keep my composure while I stared at S-Sha. "I'll fight you with Nepgear."

S-Sha nodded before stepping into the open grassy field in front of us. While everyone else gathered at the edge to watch, Nepgear and I stepped up to face S-Sha. As S-Sha entered her Gold Form, I tightened the grip on my weapon.

While I focused on not showing my thoughts, I felt somebody tugging my sleeve, Nepgear. I stared into her worried eyes. "What's wrong?"

"A-Are you alright?" she asked. "Histoire said that you weren't feeling great earlier and I'm just worried that—"

"Ah," I put a finger to her lips and shushed her. "Don't worry about that right now. I'll tell you more about it after this."

As I slowly pulled my finger away, Nepgear gave a timid nod before activating her HDD form and materializing her gunblade. "O-Okay..."

I nodded back before turning back to the uninterested S-Sha. "By the way, Nepgear, I'll really need your help during this fight. I can only go into Level One and I can't slow time."

"I got it," Nepgear tightened the grip on her weapon.

I let out a deep breath and stared into S-Sha's piercing golden eyes. "Ready?"

"Yeah..."

Just as Nepgear answered, S-Sha sped towards us at a high speed. Reaching a close range, she slashed at both of us.

I materialized a dagger and used both blades to block the strike and guide S-Sha's sword to the ground, locking it in place.

While I kept S-Sha's blade locked, Nepgear lunged over me and slashed down at S-Sha.

A golden light suddenly erupted from S-Sha's sword and it began crackling with golden lightning. Before I could stop S-Sha, she headbutted me, quickly pulled her blade away and parried Nepgear's strike.

As the two of us recovered onto the ground, I cracked my knuckles. "S-Sha, you're fighting to kill us, aren't you?"

S-Sha nodded. "If this were a real fight, there would be no fair game. If you cannot beat me to the ground, I'll sever both of your heads."

I smiled. "I like those odds," I turned to Nepgear. "Ready?"

"Y-Yes!" Nepgear gave a timid nodded before returning back to facing S-Sha.

We both lunged towards S-Sha, Nepgear shot at beam at her as we sped towards her.

Without flinching, S-Sha swatted the beam away and continued to stare us down as we reached her.

As Nepgear got behind her, we both slashed down at S-Sha.

However, S-Sha rolled to the side before quickly getting back to her feet. Before either Nepgear or I could switch our movements, S-Sha dashed forward and stabbed me in the back, driving me to the ground.

I coughed out blood as I was slammed to the ground.

S-Sha then pulled her sword out of me and—as Nepgear thrusted her blade at her—also stabbed her to the ground.

While I forced myself to my feet while my wound slowly healed, I watched as S-Sha got ready to decapitate Nepgear. Before S-Sha swung her sword down, I materialized several knives and threw them all at S-Sha.

Each knife stabbed S-Sha in her arms and she dropped her blade in reaction, clutching her arm.

I then lunged towards her and threw a fist, jerking her face to the left. Following that, I sidekicked her away.

I quickly knelt down to Nepgear and applied my Devils' energy to her, slowly healing her wound. I watched as her eyes fluttered open and she reverted back to her normal form.

She stared up at me. "S-Silver..."

I smiled and shook my head. "Don't worry. I'll finish this fight for the both of us..."

I picked her up and set her at Tolise's feet. "Take care of her, okay?"

He nodded as I returned back to the bloody, grassy field and faced S-Sha. "Ready for round two?"

"You can't win..." S-Sha stared at the gut wound which was still healing. "You used to be a lot stronger. What happened?"

I shook my head. "I guess you could say I lost my cheat powers..."

S-Sha let out a sigh as I materialized my blade. "Then I'll end your misery quickly..."

Just as I slipped into a stance, S-Sha appeared in front of me; her sword erupted with golden energy. Before I could make any movements, S-Sha slashed at me before disappearing.

As the flaming pain of the slash entered my body, S-Sha flew past me, cutting at me again. Feeling that strike, another one came, and another, and another.

After flying around me and cutting at me several times over, S-Sha swooped in behind me. As I spun back to try to strike her, S-Sha stepped forward and drove her sword through my heart.

"A-Ah…"

I looked down to see blood trickle down the blade as my vision blurred. The world was spinning as I crashed to the ground and felt the energy slowly drain from me. "D-Damn...it..."

Through my blurry and bloody vision, I stared past S-Sha to Nepgear, staring at me in horror while Tolise held her back. _Nepgear... I'm...sorry..._

Just before my vision was consumed by the pitch black, I felt a tear roll down my cheek. _I promised I would protect you..._

 _And I will... Even if I have to sacrifice who I am..._

* * *

 **Third Person POV**

"SILVER!" Nepgear managed to break from Tolise's grip and ran over to the dead Silver that laid at S-Sha's feet.

Nepgear's arms trembled as she cradled his head. The tears flowed down her cheeks and dripped onto his bloody face. "S-Silver... W-Why...?"

S-Sha flipped her hair and wiped the blood from her blade using the grass. "I thought he was going to make things interesting... Guess not... You people aren't worth my interest..."

While S-Sha began to walk away, the others gathered around Nepgear and the corpse of Silver. Hikan placed a hand on Nepgear's shoulder while everyone else bowed their heads. Tolise gave Nepgear a sympathetic look. "Nepgear...I'm—"

"No..." Nepgear wiped her tears away, shaking her head. She gently kissed Silver at his forehead and set him on the grass.

Nepgear then re-entered her HDD form and turned to S-Sha. "S-SHA! GET BACK OVER HERE!"

Nepgear sped towards S-Sha as she turned back to Nepgear. As Nepgear threw a punch aimed at her, S-Sha stepped to the side and pushed Nepgear to the ground. "Nepgear, what are you doing?"

Her eyes filled up with tears once again and she stared at S-Sha. "WHY!? Why did you kill him!?"

S-Sha let out a sigh. "Killing him was never part of my plan. Besides, if you two aren't strong enough to defeat me as I am now, then there is no way you could save your sisters. You couldn't even save your beloved—"

"SHUT UP!" Nepgear shouted back. "E-Sha chose to save you! Why would you kill Silver, the person who had helped saved both you and E-Sha!? WHY!?"

S-Sha shook her head. "You're overreacting. Didn't you notice what Silver was saying? He actually needed your help to fight. I even noticed myself that he wasn't fighting like he was last time. His abilities have either weakened or he wasn't trying."

Nepgear shook her head. "It doesn't change the fact that he's dead!"

S-Sha continued to shake her head. "If he really is as strong as he was last time, then he's definitely still alive. Otherwise, he's a weakling."

Nepgear gritted her teeth. "I don't care! He's dead because of you, not because he was weak! He was going through a lot and you—"

 **"S-Sha, I never said that round two was over..."**

Nepgear was suddenly cut off as a chilling version of Silver's voice uttered words. Everyone turned and stared at Silver. "S-Silver..."

Black flames erupted from his body and his body floated back to it's feet. As the flames extinguished themselves, it revealed Silver. Only he looked different.

His clothes had been burned off and his skin now seemed burnt and bony. But the stab wounds to his gut had been healed completely, along with any other wounds.

His Devil marking at his back now covered his entire fleshy body with crimson markings and his eyes were now filled completely with a blue color. Lastly, at his heart's position, there was a black sludge there.

S-Sha smiled as she watched Silver stare at her with his cocky smile. She raised her blade. "Knew it..."

 **"Y'know, ya bitch, I only have a time limit!"** Silver held up one of his bony hands. **"And each of these fingers have your bitch ass name written on it! How about you help me count them down from five!?"**

S-Sha raised her blade. "You won't even make it to four."

As Silver let out a snort, S-Sha's sword erupted with energy and she lunged towards Silver.

 **"Five..."**

Just before S-Sha's sword could slice Silver in half, he elbowed the sword away. As S-Sha was jerked to the ground, Silver caught her with his foot. He then crouched down and poked her at her forehead.

For a second, nothing happened. However, the second S-Sha tried to move, the monstrous force struck S-Sha and she crashed into a convenient store.

As S-Sha pulled herself out of the rubble and raised her head, she found Silver's pure blue eyes staring right into her soul. Silver smiled. **"Four..."**

Before S-Sha had time to react, a more painful and powerful force pushed her into the ground. As she coughed up blood, Silver stepped up to her, stretching his feet.

 **"I know this isn't considered a finger, but just think of a foot as an extra large finger..."** Silver smiled as he took a few steps back from S-Sha. **"Three!"**

Just as S-Sha managed to get to her knees, Silver ran up to her and kicked her head. The force dislocated her head and sent her flying, crashing into the side of the Golden Summit.

She smashed into the golden walls before slamming to the hard ground. While she coughed out blood, Silver slowly walked up to her. As S-Sha got to her knees once again, he tossed her sword in front of her.

S-Sha stared up at Silver. "W-What are you doing!?"

Silver just smiled. **"I'm getting revenge, that's what..."**

 **"Two..."**

As S-Sha picked up the sword and swung it towards Silver, he used his index finger to slice the sword's blade off. **"One..."**

While S-Sha was left dumbstruck, Silver flicked her in the forehead, crashing her into the hard gates of the Golden Summit. "D-Damnit..."

While S-Sha struggled to muster up strength, Silver walked up to her once again, grabbing her by her collar and raising her up into the air. **"So, what's it going to be? Are you going to join us, or would you rather die?"**

S-Sha somehow jerked away from Silver's vice grip as her transformation broke. "I'll join... Though, even if I was right that you were stronger than you let on, what's your motive?"

Silver formed a creepily long smile and his eyes flickered. **"That's a secret..."**

* * *

 **Silver's POV**

After somehow waking up in a mini infirmary in an arena in Lowee, I had found Nepgear at my bedside. She had informed me of how our injuries had been patched up and we had gone to Lastation to find K-Sha.

After Uni and Nepgear had beaten her in a battle and convinced her to join, everyone hurried over to Lowee. There, Rom, Ram and Hikan were trying to convince C-Sha to help us.

I sat up on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. "I see..." I turned my attention back over to Nepgear. "What about S-Sha? What happened to her?"

Nepgear nodded. "Well, S-Sha had dragged you back to us. She had explained that she would join us. Afterwards, we went to Lastation, recruited K-Sha, and arrived here in Lowee—where we found C-Sha training in this arena building. So, we took the chance to find you rest and patch us all up."

I smiled. "Thanks..."

Nepgear shook her head and squeezed my hand. "Listen, Silver... I need to know if you really are okay..."

"…" I used my free hands to remove some of the bandages at my thorax. Apparently, I had had some strange black sludge on me and my skin was burned off.

However, my skin was it's usual tan color, there wasn't any black sludge at my chest and my facial features still seemed the same. "No, Nepgear. Actually, I'm not fine at all..."

Her grip tightened on me. "Silver... Don't tell that it's...y-you know..."

I nodded. "My time's almost up... It could be..."

"N-No..." While I stared at the bed quilts, Nepgear wrapped her arms tightly around me and squeezed. I could smell her sweet fragrance tickling my nose while she sobbed quietly. "S-Silver... W-Why...?"

I returned her embrace and wrapped my arms around her. "What do you mean?"

"I thought you died..." Nepgear murmured. "S-So... Why didn't you die?"

I swallowed hard. "Honestly, I cheated death... But it came at a price..."

She pulled away and stared into my eyes. "W-Why though?"

I wiped the tears away from her face. "Because I promised I'd always be there for you and protect you."

Nepgear buried her head into my chest. "Silver... please don't leave..."

I kissed her head and ran my hand through her hair. "All that matters to me is that you're safe..."

"Hey! Hey! We're back!" Ram shouted as she ran into the room with Rom.

As the two of them came running into the room, C-Sha and Hikan came jogging up behind them, followed by everyone else a minute later.

Rom stared at Nepgear and I with a blank expression. "A-Are you two...going to k-kiss?"

"U-Um..." Nepgear quickly pulled away from me while her cheeks flushed. "N-No! I-It was just a hug! T-That's all!"

Uni let out a groan. "Way to make it blatantly obvious..."

I turned to K-Sha and C-Sha. "Although I'm sad I missed the fights, I'm assuming you two are going to help us?"

They nodded. "Yeah!"

"Right..." As I pulled my clothes on, I rolled out of the bed and walked over to S-Sha. Her eyes still wore an uninterested look. "Listen, I'm sorry, S-Sha."

She flipped her hair. "I'm not interested in your apologies. Don't worry, I'm not going to hold a grudge. You showed me what I wanted to see."

I let out a dry laugh. "S-Sure..."

I then turned to Tolise and IF. "So, what now?"

IF smiled. "Simple. We all return to Histoire and head onto Zero Dimension."

I nodded. "Alright."

"Let's not waste anymore time then," Tolise suggested. "Let's head on back to Histoire."

* * *

 **Tolise's POV**

Histoire stared at all of us, including the Gold Third members. She smiled. "Gold Third, thank you once again for offering your assistance."

S-Sha shook her head. "It's of no trouble. Gamindustri is our home too. We all also wish to protect it."

Histoire nodded. "I understand," she set the swirl mark console in front of us. "Everyone, are you ready?"

We all nodded, allowing Histoire to open an orange portal. "Good luck, everyone."

Without another word, we all jumped through the portal and headed off towards Zero Dimension...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And so begins the last story of the Megadimension Arc! Honestly, this arc will end in about five or so chapters. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Which do you like better? Deadpool or Wolverine?**


	151. Chapter 151

Chapter 151

After a white flash, we found ourselves in Zero Dimension. I let out a sigh. "Man, Zero Dimension really hasn't changed that much, has it?"

Nepgear nodded. "Y-Yeah..."

Rom and Ram were huddled together while they stared at the gloomy dimension. "This place is so destroyed... It's kinda scary..."

Rom nodded timidly. "S-Scary..."

"Man, I didn't think this place would be so ruined..." Uni muttered.

Nepgear nodded. "Yeah..."

"Hey, don't worry," Uni placed a hand onto Nepgear's shoulder. "If you can't face Uzume, I can handle it."

I let out a sigh. "How about you let me try first?"

"Fine..." Uni puffed out her cheeks. "I guess you do know her better..."

"So, which way is it?" C-Sha asked.

Nepgear nodded. "Well, she has two bases. One of them is a makeshift one that had been used to fight the Dark CPU, and the other is her main base."

Hikan and Silver stared at Nepgear and I. "So, which one do we head to first?"

I shrugged. "Let's try her makeshift base first."

Nepgear nodded. "Okay."

K-Sha turned to Nepgear. "Lead the way."

* * *

After leading everyone to the town of where Uzume's makeshift base was, Nepgear let out a sigh. "Mmgh..."

"What's wrong? Still not mentally prepared?" Silver asked.

Nepgear nodded. "And a bit of stressed..."

"So where exactly is this base?" B-Sha asked. "Does it have some cool loot in it?"

I shrugged as we walked into the base. It's familiar vibes flowed into me the second I entered. "Man, this place looks basically the same as before..."

Rom and Ram stared at the base. "This is Uzume's secret base?"

Nepgear nodded. "Yeah. This was where we camped out at while we devised strategies on how to defeat the Dark CPU."

"…" A silence fell over us while we soaked in the base.

Hikan shook his head and let out a sigh. "Anyways, let's head somewhere else. I don't think she's here..."

"Yeah," Silver tugged Nepgear out of the base while we followed close behind.

"Yo! Gearsy, Tolise!"

"H-Huh?" Hearing Uzume's familiar voice, we both turned to the direction of the voice. "No way..."

Walking towards us was Uzume Tennouboshi, in the flesh. "Hey, you two! How's it ha—"

"Freeze, bitch!" Before Uzume could utter out another word, Uni held a pistol at the back of Uzume's head while Hikan held his blade to her throat.

"H-Hey! W-What's going on!?" Uzume stared at Hikan and Uni with worry. "D-Did I do something?"

I facepalmed. "Uni, I thought we agreed that you would let me handle this."

Uni shook her head. "I don't care! She took our sisters! I was there and I saw her face and everything!"

Uzume turned back to Nepgear and I. "Hey! Gearsy, Tolise! W-What's going on?!"

I let out a sigh. "Uzume, be frank with me here, alright?"

Uzume nodded, cautiously. "I got it..."

"Did you take Neptune and the other CPUs?" I asked. "And if you did, where'd you take them?"

However, Uzume just returned my question with her own. "Nepsy got kidnapped!? And what do you mean I took them? I haven't even been to your world yet!"

Hikan shook his head and pressed the blade's edge against Uzume's throat. "Don't lie to me! You went through that hole in the sky and came over to our world! You were with the Dark CPU and everything!"

Uzume's eyes snapped to face Hikan. "Did you just say the Dark CPU?"

Hikan cocked his head. "Y-Yeah... Why?"

Uzume let out a sigh and her expression turned serious. "So I wasn't being told false rumors..."

"Rumors? What do you mean?" Silver asked.

Uzume turned back to me. "I'll explain. But could you two lower your weapons?"

I turned to Hikan and Uni. "Guys..."

Uni stared back at me with dissatisfaction. "B-But—"

"Uni, lower your weapon," Nepgear instructed.

Uni let out a groan as her pistol disappeared. "Fine..."

I turned to Hikan. "That means you too."

"Yeah, I hear you..." Hikan let his weapon vanish before stepping away from Uzume.

"Thanks, I guess..." Uzume groaned as she rolled her neck. "Anyways, let's head back to my base and then we'll talk."

We nodded and followed Uzume back to her base. Upon entering, Uzume sat down in one of the chairs. "So, where do I start...?"

"How about you tell us what you know about the Dark CPU?" Hikan suggested.

"Alright," Uzume gave a nod and cleared her throat. "Apparently, last night the Baby Bugs had seen the Dark CPU last night. At first, I thought they were just seeing things. But then, there were multiple sightings of it. Not long after, you guys showed up, and the rest is history."

IF nodded. "That must mean that Nep and the others have already been here..."

"Uzume, which direction did the Dark CPU go?" Nepgear asked.

Uzume shrugged. "I dunno. Somewhere northeast I think."

C-Sha smiled. "That's fine. It's a start."

"Now, can I ask a question?" Uzume asked.

K-Sha nodded. "Yes."

"What's this talk about me taking Nepsy and the other CPUs of your dimension?" Uzume asked. "First off, if I could get there I would go and hang out with Nepsy. Second, I haven't even seen Nepsy since you guys left."

"Uzume, I'm back," Umio greeted as he entered through the door. Upon noticing our group, he smiled. "Ah, good to see you all. For those of you who don't know, I'm Umio. It's a pleasure to meet you all..."

"I-Is that fish talking!?" Ram stared at the fish with a disgusted look.

"T-That's creepy..." Rom murmured while shuddering.

K-Sha and Uni stared at Umio. "T-That's...so weird..."

"So, what's going on?" Umio asked.

"Nepsy's in trouble and they're explaining the situation," Uzume said.

Umio nodded. "I see... Then explain your issue."

We nodded and I gestured to S-Sha. "If you wouldn't mind..."

S-Sha let out a sigh. "Whatever..."

"Well after they had returned home, the world was remade shortly after," S-Sha explained. "Doing so caused many issues. Though, those issues were eventually resolved, a hole in the sky had formed and the CPUs had gone to investigate it. But, according to Nepgear, another you—who looked identical—and the Dark CPU had captured them. That brings us to now..."

Uzume nodded. "I think I get it now..." she turned to Umio. "What do you think, Umio?"

Umio wore a frown as he looked up at us. "I believe I have an idea as to what's going on. Whoever took your sisters was probably impersonating as Uzume to try to waver your trust in her. The imposter most likely came through with the Dark CPU last night and flew off northeast with your sisters."

"Wow... For a fish, he's real smart!" Ram commented.

Uzume smiled. "Then all we have to do is head northeast, right?"

"Do you not mind coming, Uzume?" Nepgear asked.

She shook her head. "Nah. It's been a while since we've all been in a group like this!"

Umio smiled. "If that's the case I'll accompany you."

Uzume nodded. "Sure! Well, let's head off!"

"W-Wait," Uni called to Uzume before she could exit the base. Uzume stared back at her. "I-I'm sorry, Uzume..."

"Yeah, me too," Hikan added. "Sorry..."

Uzume returned their apologies with a smile. "Don't sweat it! You guys did what you had to do! Now, c'mon! Let's get going!"

* * *

"Umio, are we almost there yet?" Uzume asked as we continued to walk towards the northeast.

Umio let out a sigh. "Don't worry. We're almost there."

"I don't get why we're heading there though," Uzume murmured. "There's nothing there but a black void and nothingness..."

"Really?!" B-Sha asked.

Umio nodded. "We had gone to investigate the borders of the nation before. However, when we got there, we found nothing but a pitch black void."

"That's really bizarre..." Hikan said.

"Screw that! Do you guys have any food?" Uzume asked.

Ram nodded. "Yeah! I'm hungry too!"

"Oh! I have some onigiri!" Nepgear pulled out a box filled with onigiri.

Silver and I stared at her and the box. "Where did you pull that box from?"

Uzume let out a laugh as she, Ram and Rom each took an onigiri. "It doesn't matter! It's food!"

"Man! This is so good!" Ram said while she chewed happily on the onigiri.

Rom's face scrunched up as she swallowed the bite. "I-I don't like this... It has shiitake in it..."

"Oh yeah. You don't like shiitake, do you?" Ram questioned.

Just before Uzume took a bite out of the shiitake-filled onigiri, she tensed up. "S-Shiitake? Urgh, I can't eat that!"

Nepgear nudged at Rom. "Come on, Rom. You can't be a picky eater. You have to eat all your food so that you can grow up big and strong!"

Rom shook her head as her eyes remained glued to the shiitake onigiri. "B-But..."

"Even Uzume will do it!" Nepgear claimed. She turned to her. "Right, Uzume?"

Uzume glared at Nepgear. "You set me up..."

"Yeah, Rom! Uzume will eat the shiitake onigiri!" Ram said.

"A-Actually, I have a stomache, s-so I can't really eat..." Uzume lied.

I let out a sigh. "Even though you were just saying how hungry you were..."

Ram frowned at Uzume. "Man, that's lame!"

Rom nodded. "I-It's lame..."

Hearing the word "lame", Uzume's eyebrow twitched. "Lame!? Fine! Whatever! I'll eat the damn thing!"

Without anymore hesitation, Uzume shoved the entire onigiri into her mouth and began chewing. Rom and Ram stared at her in awe. "Woah! She ate it in one bite!"

"….Hrm?" As Uzume finished the onigiri, she gasped. "T-This shiitake is amazing! What the hell kind of shiitake having I been eating up til now!? This has so much flavor!"

"Woah..." I stared at Uzume with an awed expression. "I didn't expect her to actually like it..."

"I-It's good..." Rom murmured after nibbling at the shiitake onigiri.

Nepgear formed a bright smile. "I researched ways to make the shiitake taste really good! It all went according to plan!"

"Actually, wait," Uzume turned to Umio as she pointed ahead. "Umio, is that the void over there?"

Umio nodded. "It is..."

IF whistled lowly. "Geez, you really weren't kidding when you said it was nothing but a black void..."

As we reached the edge of the nation, we stared out towards the pitch black void. Compa stared at it with surprise. "It's so dark and scary!"

"How are we going to keep going?" B-Sha asked.

Uni shrugged. "We could try flying, but only some of us can do that..."

Hikan let out a sigh. "What to do..."

"By the way, Uzume," Nepgear turned back to face her. "How's your memory doing?"

Uzume smiled dryly. "Well... My memories have been slowly coming back to me. But they're just useless memories like how I was just going around selling consoles, sometimes having to apologize..."

Nepgear smiled. "Well, at least your memories are slowly coming back..."

Uzume shrugged. "I guess... I just wish I could remember the name of my nation..."

"Planeptune..."

"H-Huh?" Hearing a familiar voice, we all spun to the voice.

"Woah..." I took a double take. "T-There's...another Uzume..."

There was another Uzume standing right in front of us. However, this Uzume had darker colors. Beside her stood Adult Neptune, still smiling.

The Dark Uzume wore the same attire as the original Uzume. Only the Dark Uzume's colors were switched with, well, darker colors. The red and oranges were replaced with violets while the whites were replaced with blacks.

"You imposter! What do you mean my nation is Planeptune!?" Uzume asked. "That's Nepsy and Gearsy's nation!"

The Dark Uzume let out a chuckle. "I know more than you think _me_. For example, those coordinates you've been recording of this place. You know they're slowly shifting. And they've been shifting to Hyper Dimension. Then, when their coordinates are the same, they'll fuse into one nation. Besides, we're the same being..."

"Why would you do that!?" Uzume asked. "Who even are you!?"

"She's like an evil looking version of Uzume..." Uni murmured.

"Wait!" Hikan's eyes widened. "Y-You're—!"

The Dark Uzume smiled. "Yes. I'm the one who took the CPUs. Congratulations on being smart..."

"Please, give them back!" Nepgear pleaded.

Adult Neptune shook her head. "Sorry, Nepgear! No can do!"

The Dark Uzume nodded. "She's right. I have to finish up with them before I give them back. Don't worry, they're turning out quite nicely..."

"H-Hey! Wait!" Before we could ask anything else, the Dark Uzume and Adult Neptune began to walk off.

Uzume spun back to us. "Quick! Let's chase after them!"

* * *

We had chased the Dark Uzume to a part of the void which looked like the interior of the Golden Summits. Only this one had transparent red tiles.

"Hey! Get back here!" As Dark Uzume and Adult Neptune reached the end of the area, they turned back to us.

Dark Uzume smiled. "I didn't think you all would be so persistent... But that's fine..."

"You're going to come with us and spill everything you know, or we'll beat you to a pulp!" Hikan shouted.

Adult Neptune stuck out her tongue. "Bleh! Give us some space!"

Dark Uzume shook her head. "I'm afraid I have other plans... Sorry..."

"GROOOAAAR!"

At the snap of her fingers a large wolf monster suddenly appeared, ready to rip our limbs apart. "Looks like this will have to be your opponent..." Dark Uzume turned to Adult Neptune. "Neptune, if you will..."

"Yuppers!" The Adult Neptune opened her Nep Note and a portal suddenly appeared. "See y'all later!"

As Adult Neptune hopped through the portal, Dark Uzume turned back to us. "Until next time..."

As she hopped through the portal, the wolf lunged towards us. However, before any of us could prepare ourselves, S-Sha dashed up to it and decapitated it's head in one swift motion. We stared at her in shock.

S-Sha turned back to us as she nodded to the portal. "It's still open. Let's get going before it closes..."

While the others silently followed her through the portal, Silver and I exchanged glances. "You saw that too, right?"

He nodded. "Kinda makes me feel a bit ashamed..."

I shrugged. "Let's just get going..."

"Right..."

As Silver nodded, we both hopped through the portal to chase after Dark Uzume and Adult Neptune...

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here's the chapters end! There are only about four or so chapters remaining in this arc. Anyways, next week will be the chapters leading up to the ending of the Megadimension Arc. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Do any of you use Discord?**


	152. Chapter 152

Chapter 152

After arriving in another dimension—which was mostly empty space with only a few floating lands—we had found a nearby city to rest at. While Rom, Ram, IF, Compa, Silver, Hikan and the Gold Third rested, Uni, Uzume, Nepgear, Umio and I went off to look around some more.

A bit of searching later, we stumbled upon an area that seemed to have blue, simulation-type rooms in a maze of turns and dead ends. Eventually, after navigating through the rooms, we found something interesting.

"Hm..." Uzume continued to stare at the area around her. "I wonder how this area was made..."

"I don't know..." I muttered. "But it's an interesting place..."

"Hm?" Uni turned to an opening to a room. "Hey, look over there."

"Huh?" We turned to the open room. Nepgear blinked at what she saw. "H-Hey... Isn't that..."

I nodded. "Yeah... Pretty sure that's the Adult Neptune."

Adult Neptune, sprinting down the room, struggled to avoid the blasts of Arfoire's magic while she chased after her.

As one of the blasts hit Adult Neptune, she crashed against the wall while Afoire slowly approached her. While Arfoire stood over Adult Neptune, Uzume, Nepgear, Uni and I hid and watched.

"Arbore, that really hurt..." Adult Neptune said. "C'mon. We were buddies for a little while. Try to be a bit more gentle..."

A smile crossed Arfoire's face. "Arbore? You know what? I'm in a good mood, so I won't even comment about your nicknaming. I'll be rid of you soon anyways."

Adult Neptune let out a sigh as Arfoire held a blast of energy an inch away from her. "Darn. This didn't go as I planned it to..."

"Honestly," Arfoire's smile grew wider. "You've been interfering with us for far too long. While you've been claiming to be helping us, you've been trying to help the other side..."

"You caught on, huh?" Adult Neptune stared into Arfoire's eyes.

"Of course. It wasn't that difficult," Arfoire's eyes glimmered with excitement. "But now, you'll die here, without Croire or anybody else to save you..."

"Are you sure about that?" As Arfoire spun around to Uzume's voice, Uzume's fist smashed into Arfoire's face and she stumbled back. Uzume grinned at Arfoire. "Been awhile, ya hag!"

Arfoire glared at us as the three of us joined Uzume and Adult Neptune. "You brats won't stop interfering, will you!?"

We stepped between Arfoire and Adult Neptune. The three CPUs activated their HDD forms and we all materialized our weapons. Nepgear turned to us. "Make sure to protect Neptune."

Uzume formed a wide smile. "That won't be a problem! We'll take out this ugly hag with the power of love and friendship!"

Arfoire smirked. "Really? Then how about I go full power from the start too?"

A dark energy enveloped her and she took her CPU-like form. "You'll all perish here and be swallowed by the delusional whirlpool!"

The instant she materialized a longsword, I dashed towards her, throwing my blade.

Predictably, Arfoire swatted the blade away. As she did so, I increased my speed and suddenly appeared in front of Arfoire. Before she could move, I grabbed her by both wrists and twisted them.

As Arfoire dropped her sword, she banged against my head and I stumbled back. She then picked the sword back up and stabbed it through my gut.

I reached to pull it out. However, as my hand touched the handle, a blast of energy knocked me to a wall and the blade stabbed me against the wall.

I picked my head back up to see Arfoire's face. Just as she shot out a blast of energy, Uzume kicked her away, suddenly causing the beam to be shot towards a different wall.

Taking the moment, I pulled the blade out and held it in my hands. I turned to see the battle unfolding.

Arfoire shot out a beam of energy aimed directly at Uzume. However, Uzume used her megaphone and let out a loud wave of sound, canceling the beam.

Just as the beam disappeared and Arfoire lunged towards Uzume, Nepgear sped past Uzume and lunged towards Arfoire.

Arfoire stopped and prepared herself for Nepgear's strike. However, just as Arfoire formed several blasts of energy, Uni shot several bullets, hitting Arfoire's arms and causing her energy blasts to disappear.

Before Arfoire had any extra time to do anything, Nepgear sped forward and slashed at Arfoire, causing Arfoire to stumble back.

However, as Arfoire regained her footing, Uzume suddenly appeared behind her and swung a punch aimed towards the back of her head. Arfoire then fell to the floor and rolled out of the way of Uni's blasts.

I lunged forward and rejoined the battle. We took aim on Arfoire and lunged towards her. However, a dark energy surrounded her and it blew up, knocking us all back.

We picked ourselves back up and stared at Arfoire, who was now emitting fiery dark energy. "You brats will NOT win! You'll all perish here and—A-Agh..."

Before Arfoire could finish her sentence, two blades impaled her from behind, spilling blood. As Arfoire's fiery aura disappeared, she slid off the blades and crumpled to the floor, revealing Adult Neptune as the one who killed Arfoire.

Arfoire's body shook violently as she tried to force herself up. "N-No...I-I...can't die here... S-Save me...U...zu...me..."

As Arfoire coughed out her last words, her body was swallowed in a dark energy before blowing up, leaving only her blood on the floor.

"W-We...did it..." Adult Neptune let out a laugh before fainting to the floor.

The CPUs reverted back to their normal forms and approached Adult Neptune. "What should we do with her?"

Uzume shrugged. "Let's take her back to base. Then we'll talk."

* * *

After taking Adult Neptune back to our makeshift base, she had told her story to us.

Basically, she had been lured to this dimension—Heart Dimension—and met Uzume—who she called Kurome Ankokuboshi. Kurome had requested that Adult Neptune brought her a console. However, when she did get the console, she was transferred to Zero Dimension.

After we had left Zero Dimension and killed the Dark CPU, Adult Neptune had figured out Kurome's plan and had joined AffimaX, acting as one of their subordinates. This was the reason why there had been one ran-pig and why the portal to Heart Dimension had been left open for us.

"You mentioned that Kurome had a plan," Umio pointed out. "Could you give us a basic idea of what that plan is?"

Adult Neptune nodded. "She is located at the center of this dimension with the four of your CPUs. Her plan is to basically swallow the world in delusion and brainwash the CPUs by showing them their happiest dreams."

"Then why did she use us?" S-Sha asked.

Adult Neptune responded with another nod. "That's exactly why. She just used you Gold Third for her amusement."

"I see..." Hikan scratched at his chin with understanding.

"Alright! If that's the case, let's not waste anymore time and head to my fake!" Uzume said.

Nepgear nodded and looked over at Adult Neptune. "Neptune, would you mind leading?"

Adult Neptune formed a wide grin. "You bet I'll be this party's leader! C'mon! Let's get going!"

* * *

"Hey, why are we here?" I asked B-Sha.

B-Sha formed a wide grin. "Because I want to see Nep-Nep's dreams!"

"We're in Planeptune! This must be Nep-Nep's dreams," Compa said. "I want to see too!"

"I kind of do too," IF admitted. "If this dream really is supposed to show what really makes Nep truly happy, I'm curious to see what it is."

I let out a sigh. "Yeah... I actually want to see it too..."

While Adult Neptune had been leading us to where Kurome was, B-Sha had gotten sidetracked and we had wandered into Neptune's dreams.

"What do you think her most desired dream is?" I asked Nepgear.

"Maybe it's to just sit around all day, eating pudding and playing video games," IF suggested.

Compa nodded. "That sounds like Nep-Nep!"

"Or maybe she just wants to play all day!" B-Sha thought aloud.

"Yeah, but do you think that is what she REALLY wants?" Silver asked.

"Got any ideas, Gear?" IF asked Nepgear. "You are her sister after all."

Nepgear shook her head. "Now that I really think about it, I don't really know what Neptune would want."

"Look! There's Nep-Nep!" Compa pointed ahead towards Neptune, who was surrounded by a bunch of people.

"Ah, Neptune! There you are!" An old lady ran up to her and handed her a bag. "Here's the pudding you asked for!"

Neptune formed a wide grin. "Ah, shucks! You don't have to give me that!"

The old lady shook her head. "I insist. You've been so kind!"

"Okay!" Neptune returned the old lady's gesture with a warm smile. "Thanks!"

"Miss Neptune!" A girl ran up to Neptune and showed her paper. "Look! I got a hundred on my test!"

"Really!?" Neptune used her free hand to pat the girl's head. "Good job!"

"Miss Neptune!" A boy ran up to her. "I finally made the starting spot on my baseball team! Can you come and watch?"

Neptune gave the boy a high five and smiled. "Doy! Of course I'll go! You worked so hard to get better every night! I'll go!"

I turned to IF, whose mouth was open. "So, did anybody expect this?"

"This isn't right!" IF said. "How could Nep—the laziest person I know—have such a selfless dream!?"

"Well, Nep-Nep does look happy," B-Sha pointed out.

Nepgear nodded. "Yeah. Plus, Neptune always does this. Whenever I go to pick her up, she's always surrounded by happy faces!"

"Maybe Nep-Nep's dream is to see everyone smiling and happy!" Compa suggested.

I nodded. "Yeah, an everyday peace where everyone is happy..."

* * *

"Again?" Silver let out a sigh as we reached Lastation, probably Noire's dream.

I turned to K-Sha and Uni. "Let me guess. You two wanted to see Noire's dreams, right?"

Uni and K-Sha nodded simultaneously. "Yeah..."

"Where do we find her though?" Silver asked.

"Crap! Crap! Crap! I'm late!"

I chuckled and pointed ahead towards Noire, wearing a school uniform and running with a piece of toast in her mouth. "That's where we'll find her."

"I can't be late! I have that morning recording and then I have to finish up a shooting this afternoon!" Noire said as she ran. Her phone rang, causing her to suddenly stop. "Hm... I don't have time to hang out this afternoon... Maybe she'll understand..."

After sending a quick text, Noire smiled. "That's right. Uni's been growing quite a bit. Maybe it's time I hold the ceremony to make her the new CPU."

"This isn't right at all!" Uni shouted. "There's no way Noire's ultimate dream is to quit being a diligent, hard-working CPU and become a famous actor!"

K-Sha nodded. "Yeah! Plus, Noire and I should be dating!"

Silver let out a sigh. "I don't think that one is too true..."

We watched as Uni ran up to Noire. "Hey, Noire!"

"Hm?" Noire turned to Uni and smiled. "Oh, hey Uni. What's up?"

"Are you really going to quit your role as a CPU?" Uni asked.

Noire nodded. "Yup. It's finally time to pass the torch. So, I'll be making you the CPU! Won't that be great?"

Uni glared at Noire and shook her head. "No! I don't want that at all!"

"W-Wait! Uni!" Noire called after Uni as she ran off.

As Uni came back to us, she crossed her arms. "It's decided. We have to save Noire and get her back to normal!"

I shrugged. "Fine by me..."

* * *

"So, this dream is probably Blanc's right?" Hikan asked as we stared at Lowee.

C-Sha nodded before forming a wide grin. "Probably. I wonder what Blanny's dream could be..."

Rom and Ram nodded. "Maybe it's for all the books in the world!"

Hikan let out a groan. "I have an idea. But it's not the best..."

"Oh, there you two are," we spun around after hearing Blanc's voice.

Rom and Ram's jaws fell open while Hikan facepalmed. "I was right, sadly..."

I shook my head. "That's just not right..."

We stared at Blanc, now with a bigger bosom. Ram blinked multiple times to make sure she was really seeing what she was seeing. "Blanc! What are those things!?"

"These?" Blanc smiled and poked at her chest. "They're my boobs."

"They look so unnatural," Hikan muttered.

"Rom, quick! Get me a needle!" Ram shouted.

Rom stared at Ram with confusion. "A-A needle...?"

"Yeah! We need to pop those monsters that made Blanc's chest grow!" Ram said. "Hurry! Before it infects the rest of her body!"

"W-Wait, what!?" Blanc stared at them in shock.

Hikan let out a sigh. "Okay, that's where it stops. C-Sha, help me get these two out of Blanc's dreams before Blanc ends up with a lot of holes in her."

C-Sha nodded. "Sure. Still, I can't believe Blanny's ultimate desire is to have big boobs..."

Hikan shook his head as he and C-Sha dragged Rom and Ram away from Blanc. "More of a reason to save Blanc..."

* * *

"Vert's dream, huh?" I stared at Leanbox.

Nepgear nodded before looking over at S-Sha. "Yeah. S-Sha, you're probably now interested in this, so we'll get goin—"

"No," S-Sha suddenly objected. "I'm interested."

"Really!?" Silver and Nepgear stared at S-Sha in shock.

S-Sha nodded. "E-Sha is also interested, so I'd like to check it out."

"Knowing Vert, it's probably one of us Candidates as her sister," Nepgear muttered. "But where is Vert, anyways?"

S-Sha nodded towards the Basilicom nearby. "I sense her presence coming from over there. "Let's get going."

We entered the Basilicom and knocked on the door which led to Vert's room. "Vert? Are you in there?"

"Oh! Nepgear, is that you?" Vert asked from the other side. "You're free to come in and play with my sisters!"

We all exchanged looks. "Sisters?"

Nepgear gave a timid nod. "O-Okay..."

As Vert opened the door for us, we gasped at what we saw.

"Wow! So many people!" A smaller version of Vert stared at us with all.

"So many..." An even tinier version of Vert stared at us with big eyes.

"Nepgear, these are my sisters!" Vert introduced us. "That's Vert, and the smaller one is Vert!"

Silver stared at them. "U-Um..."

"Look! They're already reading these mangas that are mature-rated!" Vert said as she pointed to a manga with a very suggestive cover.

S-Sha let out a sigh before shaking her head. "Okay, I'm over it. Let's go save Vert from this shit..."

Silver nodded. "Yeah, I think we're done here..."

* * *

After a bit more travelling, we had arrived at the center of Heart Dimension, where Kurome was. Standing behind her were four Dark CPUs, each holding the CPUs at their cores.

"Well, it looks like you have found me..." Kurome said.

"Hand back Neptune and the others!" Hikan demanded.

Kurome shook her head. "I'm afraid I can't do that. They're almost ready anyways."

"I don't care if they're ready or not!" Uzume barked. "Hand them back, you fake!"

"Fake?" Kurome smiled. "I'm no fake, _me_. _I'm_ the same person. In fact, why don't we join back together?"

"Like I'm going to believe that crap!" Uzume glared at Kurome.

"But I hold the memories that you don't," Kurome said. " _I_ was the first CPU of Planeptune but was hated because _I_ couldn't be controlled."

"There's no way you're telling the truth!" Uzume said.

"Then how about I make you remember the truth?" Kurome asked before she pulsed out energy and struck Uzume.

"A-Agh!" Uzume then crumpled to the floor, holding her head. "A-All these memories..."

"And you CPU Candidates and Gold Third," Kurome turned to them. "If you wish to live, then leave."

"Yeah right!" Uni shook her head. "We came all this way to save our sisters! There's no way we'll leave!"

Kurome sighed. "Suit yourself..."

"Ah!" At the snap of Kurome's fingers, we were suddenly pushed to the floor by an immense force, unable to push ourselves back up.

"None of you have control over this place," Kurome said. "This place is my dream. I can control whatever I want..."

While Uzume clutched her head, Kurome walked up to her. "Just like how Zero Dimension was created from _my_ mind..."

"What the hell are you talking about!?" I asked.

"Simple," Kurome answered. "Since _I_ was hated, _I_ was sealed away in that swirl mark console and _I_ made everybody forget about me. So, while I was despising everyone, they found a new CPU, Uranus."

"The first CPU of Planeptune..." Nepgear muttered.

"That's right, the one everyone preferred over me," Kurome said. "But, a part of me broke off. That was _me_. It was the happier _me_."

We all looked over at Uzume. "You mean..."

Kurome nodded. "Yes, that was the other _me_ ," Kurome stared at Uzume. "That being said, since you know all of this now and most of your memories have probably returned, why not join me? Since you can now absorb shares and I can absorb negative energy, why not become one again and make Gamindustri pay for what they did to us?"

Uzume glared up at Kurome. "There's no way in hell I'd ever do something like that! I came here to save Nepsy and the others after all!"

I watched as the Hikan and Uzume glowed with energy and forced themselves back to their feet, the CPU Candidates activated their HDD forms and Gold Third entered their Gold Forms. They pushed themselves back up. Silver and I then erupted with Devil energy and picked ourselves up.

"What a shame..." Kurome sighed. "But if you all really want to see the CPUs so badly, then so be it. They're ready anyways."

At the snap of Kurome's fingers, Neptune, Noire, Blanc and Vert were dropped from the Dark CPUs' hold, falling to the floor.

"Ah! Free at last!" Neptune smiled as she dusted herself off.

"Neptune!" Nepgear sped towards Neptune.

"Oh! It's Nepgear!" A smile crossed Neptune's face as Nepgear arrived in front of her. "Yay! Now I can torture her and hear her cries of pain!"

"H-Huh?" Nepgear stared at Neptune with shock. "N-Neptune?"

Neptune suddenly activated her HDD form, grabbed Nepgear by her neck and pinned her to the floor. "Now, I can finally be rid of you..."

"N-Neptune... W-Why...are you...doing this?" Nepgear coughed out.

Neptune's smile coiled into a sinister one. "Why? Because all you do is boss me around and you're treated better..."

"N-Neptune...p-please..." Nepgear pleaded.

Blanc, Vert and Noire all activated their HDD forms. Blanc glared at Rom and Ram. "Rom, Ram, fill my soul with your painful cries..."

Noire slowly approached Uni. "It's time to get rid of you, you disgrace..."

Vert let out a sigh as she approached IF and Compa. "Please, do try to entertain me since I don't have a sister..."

"N-N-Neptune..." Nepgear returned her attention to Neptune. "P-Please..."

"Goodbye, sister..." Neptune formed her katana and got ready to stab it into Nepgear.

Suddenly, the Adult Neptune shot a blast and caused Neptune to jump away. Nepgear then let out a cough before being kicked from her HDD form, along with the other CPU Candidates. We hurried and saved them from the now-evil CPUs.

Adult Neptune turned to Nepgear. "Let's retreat for now."

Nepgear shook her head. "N-No... It was slight, but I felt Neptune's presence. I think they can still be saved."

"If Gearsy thinks so, then I'm willingly to try too!" Uzume said.

I nodded before turning to the four CPU Candidates. "You four rest for now. Let us and Gold Third handle this."

Nepgear nodded. "Okay..."

The four CPUs glared at the Gold Third. "Now it's time to see whether us or the Gold Third are truly stronger..."

Everyone materialized their weapons. S-Sha turned to me. "Hey, let Gold Third fight. You guys can just watch."

I turned to IF. "Should we really let them?"

Silver smiled. "Makes things interesting at least."

I sighed. "Fine..."

Neptune smiled. "Get ready to die!"

Just as Uzume, IF, Compa, Silver, Hikan, Adult Neptune and I stepped away, the four CPUs rocketed towards the Gold Third. The four Gold Third members just simply walked towards the CPUs.

Once the CPUs were within several meters of the Gold Third, C-Sha dashed forward and lunged a fist.

The CPUs stopped abruptly and dodged to the side of C-Sha's blow, smashing in the floor. Before the CPUs could move, K-Sha and B-Sha fired several blasts aimed at them.

As the CPUs were hit several times by each blast, S-Sha swiped up on a gold card and her sword sparked to life with energy. Before the CPUs recovered from their attacks, S-Sha burst forward and slashed at them all.

For the longest moment, nothing happened. But in the next second, the area where the CPUs all stood blew up into a golden tornado.

As the tornado faded away, the CPUs were left battered and bruised. However, they were still standing.

Blanc and Vert both lunged towards B-Sha and K-Sha. Before Blanc and Vert reached them, K-Sha fired several shots aimed at their heads, knocking them back.

As they were both knocked towards the same area, B-Sha fired a rocket and they were both blown back to a wall.

The moment Vert and Blanc slammed against the wall, Noire sped towards C-Sha. As Noire brought her blade down on C-Sha, C-Sha kicked the blade away before kicking Noire in her gut, crumpling her to the floor.

Just as Noire fell to the floor, Neptune charged towards S-Sha.

S-Sha's sword filled itself with golden energy and, just as Neptune was a few centimeter away, slashed at her. Neptune then fell to the floor and S-Sha kicked her to where the other CPUs were gathered at.

As the Gold Third gathered around the CPUs, so did the everybody else. "Neptune, please come back to us!"

"You'll all die here!" Neptune shouted as she and the other CPUs rose back to their feet.

Kurome smiled. "It's pointless. They're consumed by negative energy. You can't save them."

"Then leave it to me!" Uzume said. Suddenly, energy began to gather into a ball.

Kurome stared at her with surprise. "What are you doing!?"

"If that negative energy is what's controlling Nepsy, then I'll use share energy and cancel out the negative energy!" Uzume said.

As the share energy gathered into a large ball of energy, Uzume hurled the ball at the CPUs, exploding into orange energy.

"W-Wait..." As the light faded, Neptune blinked. The dark color in her eyes turned back to their normal color. "I don't hate Nepgear. I love her, with all my heart."

"Neptune!" Nepgear called out to her sister.

"A-Agh!" Suddenly, dark energy erupted from the four CPUs.

Neptune crumpled to the floor. "N-No... I-I don't want to hurt Nepgear..."

"I-I don't want to hurt Uni..." Noire held her head, fighting desperately against the dark energy coating her.

"Get the hell out of me!" Blanc shouted.

"P-Please... N-No more..." Vert pleaded.

Kurome shook her head. "It's useless. They can't be save—"

Before Kurome could finish her statement, the CPUs shined with a bright light. An instant later, they emerged in their NEXT Forms.

"No way..." Kurome gritted her teeth. "How can this be!? What are these forms!?"

Neptune raised her sword at Kurome. "We've been freed and now you'll pay for all that you've done to Gamindustri!"

Kurome smiled. "Who said I was going to willingly hand myself over?"

As Kurome snapped her fingers, the green Dark CPU, Dark Green, crashed down in front of us.

Kurome smiled. "Have fun."

I turned to Uzume. "Sharing Field!"

Uzume nodded before activating her HDD form. From there, the Sharing Field surrounded us and Dark Green.

"GROOOAR!"

The CPUs, CPU Candidates, Gold Third and the rest of us all readied ourselves for Dark Green.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And here's the end of this chapter! You probably weren't expecting a chapter today. Well, that's because we're going to finish the Megadimension Arc this week! We just have two more chapters to go before we finish the Megadimension Arc! The next chapter will be on Wednesday by the way. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Would you rather be able to be lucid in your dreams or have one of your dreams come true?**


	153. Chapter 153

Chapter 153

 **Third Person POV**

As everyone prepared themselves, Dark Green's arms turned into a pair of lances and drilled towards them.

Instantly Neptune countered by cutting off one of the lances.

As one of the lances was sliced off and shattered, Blanc lunged forward and smashed her axe against the other lance, shattering the lance into thousands of pieces.

Before Dark Green could recover from her position, Vert threw her spear at Dark Green, knocking the Dark CPU back.

As Dark Green was knocked back, Vert materialized several hundred spears, all pointed directly at Dark Green.

The second Dark Green regained control, Vert commanded all the spears and—at the same time—the spears all struck Dark Green at it's core.

Just as the last spear struck Dark Green, Uzume boosted towards Dark Green, filling her fist with orange energy.

In an orange light, Uzume smashed her fist into Dark Green's head, breaking it's helmet. Dark Green then fell back and the orange light enveloped it.

As the last of the orange light covered Dark Green, it shattered into a million of orange pieces and the Sharing Field faded away.

Just as the Sharing Field faded away, Uzume, the Gold Third and the CPU Candidates all reverted back to their original forms.

Neptune pointed her sword towards Kurome. "It's over. Give up now and restore everything to it's proper order."

Kurome smiled. "I never said that I would give up..."

Croire floated down to Kurome's side and a portal opened up behind them. "Thanks to none of you being in Hyper Dimension, the shift towards the two dimensions combining has increased exponentially. Very soon, Hyper Dimension and Zero Dimension will become one."

"You're not getting away!" Noire said as she and the other CPUs boosted towards her.

Kurome smiled and snapped her fingers. Instantly, dozens of clones of Neptune, Noire, Vert and Blanc appeared, blocking their path. "Oh, but I am getting away... I'll see you all when Gamindustri is swallowed in delusion. Unless, of course, you're all dead."

Without another word, Kurome disappeared with Croire into the portal. As they disappeared, so did the portal.

"Damnit!" Blanc gritted her teeth. "What now!?"

"We've got two issues," Hikan stated. "Kurome is heading off to Hyper Dimension to destroy it, while we have this army of fakes to take care of."

"I've got an idea," Uzume turned to Nepgear. "Gearsy, you take the other Candidates and Gold Third back to Hyper Dimension. Stop the fake me and we'll take care of these fakes!"

Nepgear nodded. "Alright!"

"Wait, take this before you go," before Nepgear left, Uzume tossed her an orange Share Crystal. "That contains the remaining energy that I used on Nepsy and the other CPUs. If you have to fight any Dark CPUs, that should create the Sharing Field for you, even if I'm not around."

Nepgear held the crystal tightly. "I got it. Good luck!"

As Nepgear left with Gold Third and the CPU Candidates, Silver, Tolise and Hikan all turned to face Uzume and the four goddesses. "So, do you five have any ideas as to how we're going to take out that mass of fakes?"

Neptune smiled but let out a dry laugh. "Honestly, not really. But, we can just defeat them the old fashion way."

Adult Neptune, IF and Compa all smiled. IF chuckled. "We could just divide up into groups and divide the fakes amongst ourselves. Without us, Nep would've been screwed fifty times over."

Neptune returned IF's suggestion with a laugh. "You're right. But, I like that idea. Let's do that."

As we turned back to the fakes, the fake Neptune made a poker face. "Nep it up!"

Seeming to react to this, the fake Noire smiled and began laughing. "Mwa ha ha ha!"

Following that, the fake Blanc growled at the CPUs. "RRGH!"

Finally, Vert began touching her body sexually and smiled. "It's Vert, baby!"

The four CPUs stared at them with shock. Hikan let out a sigh. "Honestly—even though that hurts to look at—it was an extremely accurate representation of all four of you..."

Neptune turned to face him. "But—"

Before Neptune could utter out anymore words, the four CPUs were kicked from their NEXT forms. "W-What the what!? What happened!?"

Noire stared at herself in shock. "H-How come we were kicked?!"

"Maybe it was some kind of cheat debuff?" Vert suggested.

IF let out a groan. "And that, right there, proves my point."

Adult Neptune grinned. "Well, it really is a good thing that we're here, huh?"

Silver nodded. "Yeah, considering all those fakes..."

"Whatever! We'll still win!" Neptune said as everyone readied their weapons. "We're fated to get the Happy Ending! Besides, I'm the protagonist!"

"Good luck to you all," Umio said.

Neptune grinned back at Umio. "Don't worry, Umitaro! We got this!"

"Wait, Nepsy," Just before Neptune could lunge towards her fakes, Umio called out to her. "I know it has been a while since we have last seen each other. But my name is Umio..."

"O-Oh..." Neptune stared into Umio's eyes with a blank expression.

"Okay! Now charge!" The Adult Neptune commanded.

Neptune—quickly snapping back to the battle—dashed towards the fakes with everyone else.

The mass of fakes materialized their weapons and readied themselves for the incoming attacks. Silver and Tolise reached them first.

Without a moment's hesitation, they both allowed their Devils to come out. While the fakes stepped away in horror, the Devils brought down their fists onto the fakes. In one fell swoop, a section of the fakes had been wiped away.

However, as the fakes stared at the Devils' fists in horror, Hikan came down on them and—erupting his blade into flames—crashed down into a group of fakes, burning them away.

As the Devils and Hikan's flames disappeared, Silver, Tolise and Hikan all turned to face the other's battles.

The second IF reached the fakes, she rolled forward, trapping her in the center of a group of fakes.

IF slashed at the few that lunged towards her. She then pulled out a pair of pistols and began shooting each fake in the head, snapping to the next the second the previous one's head blew off.

Once her pistols ran out of ammo, she threw them towards the remaining fakes. Without wasting any time, IF began throwing knife after knife at her remaining fakes. As the last one was killed, IF let out a sigh.

Suddenly, one lunged from behind and slashed at her.

Quickly, the Adult Neptune sped in and knocked the fake Noire's blade away. Following that, Adult Neptune used her other blade to impale the fake Noire.

As the fake Noire fell, several other fakes charged towards Adult Neptune.

Adult Neptune regained her footing and threw both of her blades at the fakes. While several were killed, more fakes charged at Adult Neptune.

Adult Neptune quickly whipped out a pistol and began firing at each fake's head while running towards her swords.

As Adult Neptune reached her swords, she shot off one more head before tossing the pistol towards the fakes. She then turned her attentions back to her swords, kicking them both to her hands.

As she turned back to the fakes, she found them in her face. Without any hesitation, Adult Neptune slashed at the fakes, slashing several bodies in half. Following that, Adult Neptune performed a spinning motion with her body and slashed at the remaining fakes, decapitating their heads off.

While Adult Neptune let out a sigh and exchanged bullets with IF, Compa used her giant syringe to kill off any straggler fakes.

They all then turned their attention to Uzume and the four CPUs.

A fake lunged towards Uzume. Uzume reacted by grabbing it and throwing it towards another oncoming group of fakes.

She then used her megaphone and blasted the fakes to oblivion with extremely loud and powerful sound waves.

As Uzume let out a deep breath, a fake came at her from behind.

Before the fake Vert could impale Uzume with it's spear, Blanc jumped forward and smashed her hammer down onto the fake Vert, smashing it into thousands of pieces.

A group of fake Blancs and Verts then charged towards both Uzume and Blanc.

However, before the fakes reached them, Vert stepped in and—filling her spear with green energy—barraged them all with a series of fast-paced strikes, killing them all in the blink of an eye.

Everyone then turned their attention towards Neptune and Noire, who were finishing their group of fakes.

As Neptune and Noire stood side by side, the remaining fakes all charged towards them.

Neptune and Noire's swords shined with rainbow energy and they both lunged towards the fakes, slashing at them. In one slash, all the remaining fakes dropped to the floor, dead.

The two CPUs wiped away their sweat and everyone regrouped.

Neptune wore a wide grin. "That was a piece of cake. In the end, the original is always better than the fake!"

Uzume let out a sigh. Noire glared at Neptune and kicked her shin.

"O-Oh, sorry Uzume," Neptune quickly apologized. "I-I didn't mean it like that..."

Uzume tried her best to smile and shook her head. "N-No. It's fine, Nepsy..."

"Man, you guys finished fast..." Croire murmured as she floated down to them all.

"Crostie!" Adult Neptune stared at Croire. "Get back in my book!"

Croire let out a laugh. "Yeah right! Besides, that's not even the reason I came back."

"Then why did you come back?" Silver asked.

"Simple," Croire smiled. "To tell you all that you simply have no chance of winning."

"You're lying," Hikan said. "We're going to save Uzume and Gamindustri."

"Oh, but you're not..." Croire said. "Either you save Hyper Dimension and destroy Zero Dimension and Heart Dimension—killing all the residents in Zero Dimension, including Uzume and Umio—or you save Uzume and destroy Hyper Dimension."

"Wait, what do you mean that I'll be killed if we save Hyper Dimension?!" Uzume asked.

"You really don't know, huh?" Croire smiled. "It's simple. You and the other Uzume are linked to Zero and Heart Dimension. They were created in your minds. Simply, if one of you were to be killed, it would destroy both of those dimensions, including both of you."

Uzume clenched her fists. "W-Why you...!"

"Besides," Croire continued to smile. "You were a failed experiment anyways. You nearly destroyed Planeptune. Why do you think you were sealed?"

"H-Huh?!" Uzume stared at Croire with shock.

"Those entries Nepgear had found in Zero Dimension were about you, Uzume," Croire stated. "Basically, they told about how you couldn't be controlled and were sealed away."

Uzume crumpled to her knees. "N-No way..."

Croire nodded. "Yup! And, now that you know, you also now know that you can't win! Either save Hyper Dimension and lose Zero and Heart Dimension or save Uzume and destroy Hyper Dimension!"

"…!"

Hearing those words, Uzume ran off.

"H-Hey! Uzume!" Neptune called after her.

Umio turned back to everyone. "Everyone, after Uzume! We can't risk her doing anything suicidal!"

Everyone nodded and chased after Uzume.

* * *

After arriving in a tower—much like the interiors of the Golden Summits, except with red floors—everyone followed Uzume's footprints and tears up to the top of the tower, where Uzume sat, in her Sharing Field.

Alone and crying.

"D-Damn it!" Uzume punched the platform with her fist. "First I find out that I almost destroyed my own nation, then I get sealed away and now, I either die or Hyper Dimension dies!"

Her persona shifted to her original persona, before she had hardened herself. "U-Uzume doesn't know what to do... Uzume is a bad CPU... She can't protect her nation or anybody... She wants it to end... Uzume wants to make it stop..."

Uzume let out a cry. "WAHHHHH! Somebody save Uzume! S-Save me...Umio..."

"Did you call, Uzume?" Umio came to Uzume's side while she cried. "It's not like you to switch back to your normal self."

"Uzume doesn't care! Uzume doesn't know what to do!" Uzume cried. "Help Uzume, Umio!"

Umio put a fin on Uzume's shoulder while she cried. "There's no need to cry. Right now, you're in a bad dream. But people eventually wake up from those bad dreams. And so will you..."

Uzume, tear-stained, stared into Umio's eyes. "B-But—"

Umio shook his head. "Those memories. They certainly weren't pleasant, yes. However, all that negativity has probably made you remember them as worse than what they actually were. Why don't you try to remember them, positively?"

Uzume sniffled. "Positively?"

Umio nodded.

"O-Okay..." As Uzume closed her eyes to see her memories, they were projected out into the Sharing Field.

* * *

 _Uzume stood by Histoire, hiding behind her small figure. Histoire turned her attention from the man to Uzume. "Uzume, this man is from the Grassroots company. You'll be working with him for now on."_

 _The Grassroots man smiled at Uzume. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I hope we can be good friends."_

 _Uzume stared at the Grassroots man with a blank expression._

…

 _"Uzume is so cool!" A boy shouted._

 _A girl nodded. "Uzume is so cute!"_

 _The Grassroots man walked up to them. "Can you guys do me a favor? Everytime you see Uzume, call her Lady Uzume!"_

 _As if by cue, Uzume suddenly appeared, walking towards the Grassroots man._

 _"Lady Uzume!" The boys and girls called out to her._

 _She turned to them and smiled brightly._

…

 _"Are we not allowed to become a Planeptune citizens?" An old man asked._

 _"I'm terribly sorry," the Grassroots man apologized. "We cannot take anymore in."_

 _Uzume stared at the people as they bowed their heads and dragged themselves away from Planeptune's borders._

 _While she stared at them, the Grassroots man put his hand on Uzume's shoulder. "Don't worry, Uzume. We'll make this place a great nation. I promise."_

…

 _A man let out a sigh. "So Uzume failed to control her power again, huh?"_

 _A woman shook her head. "It's a shame. She's such a sweet girl."_

…

 _Uzume clung to the Grassroots man's arm. "Don't worry, Uzume. It'll be alright."_

 _"Still," Histoire said. "To think that people would try to assassinate Uzume..."_

 _The Grassroots man nodded. "Don't worry. I'll keep her safe."_

…

 _"Uzume, look out!" The Grassroots man pushed Uzume out of the way, impaling a blade into his gut._

 _As the assassin stared at the man in shock, he turned around and ran away._

 _Just as the assassin left, the Grassroots man crumpled to the ground. Tears began to flow down Uzume's face. She cried and cried into the Grassroots man's chest._

 _"D-Don't cry...U-Uzume..." The Grassroots man reassured her. "I'll always be by...your side... I'll always be by your side...to see your dreams come true... I won't ever leave your side, Uzume... I would follow you to the end of the world...A-And I'll...always be there for you..."_

…

 _Histoire stared at Uzume with a saddened expression. "I see that you've chosen to seal yourself away to protect Gamindustri. However, are you sure you want to wipe away everyone's memories of you? The people here still love you."_

 _Uzume nodded._

 _Histoire let out a sigh. "Very well then. I'll seal you away. Don't fret. No matter how long it takes, I'll find a way to break you out. You won't be forgotten, Uzume..."_

…

* * *

Uzume smiled, her persona returned to it's usual. "I remember now, Umio. I chose to seal myself, to protect Planeptune. Not everyone hated me..."

Umio smiled at Uzume. "Are you feeling better now?"

Uzume responded with a grinning nod. "Yeah! Thanks, Umio."

"HOLD THE PHONE! STOP! STOP! STOP!"

As both the Neptunes came running in, everyone else chased after them. Uzume and Umio stared at the Neptunes with confusion. "N-Nepsy?! What's wrong?"

"Everything!" Neptune claimed. "That flashback made no sense!"

"Yeah!" Adult Neptune agreed. "That dude in the flashback said the same thing Umio said when we defeated Dark Purple!"

"Actually, it could make sense," IF stated. "Since Zero Dimension was created from Uzume's dreams, maybe Umio was reincarnated there as a fish, forever as Uzume's partner!"

Blanc smiled. "That's genius. If I use that for my next novel, I'm sure to strike gold."

"W-Wait..." Uzume cut them off while they talked. "H-How do you know about my flashback?"

"Duh! It was being casted behind you!" Neptune said.

"We also heard your crying too!" Compa added.

Uzume stared at them with horror. "Y-Y-You...heard...me...c-cry..."

"All the way from the very beginning..." Tolise said.

"AHHHHHH!" Uzume let out a cry as her face turned red. "JUST KILL MEEEEEE!"

* * *

"Are you feeling better now, Uzume?" Umio asked her about an hour later.

Uzume nodded, her Sharing Field had disappeared. "Y-Yeah... I-I'm fine..."

"So what's the plan now?" Noire asked.

"I'm not sure..." Uzume said. "If we kill the other me, I'll die with Heart and Zero Dimension. But if we don't kill the other me, Hyper Dimension will be destroyed."

"Oh! Nep has an idea!" Neptune suddenly said. "We have to clear out the negative energy from the other Uzume! Actually, that's too hard to say. For now, I'll just call her Kurome Ankokuboshi!"

IF let out a groan. "That naming sense is way too spot-on..."

"Anyway, we just have to go destroy the negative energy from her!" Neptune said. "Since we're inside of Kurome, we just have to purify her from her core!"

"But how do we do that?" Hikan asked.

"I might know," Uzume pointed towards a giant Share Crystal floating off in the distance. Shards of it were cracked off and floating around it while dark energy emitted from it. "That's probably where the center is. If we destroy all the negative energy surrounding it, we should be fine."

"Alright! Then let's head towards it!" Neptune said.

Hearing Neptune's instructions, everyone raced to the Share Crystal.

* * *

"Wow! It's so big!" Compa stared at the Share Crystal with amazement as everyone reached the platform standing before it.

"So you idiots figured it out, didn't you?" Croire suddenly appeared in front of them. "Didn't think that you all were that smart..."

"Let me guess. You're here to stop us, aren't you?" IF suspected.

"Of course!" Croire said. "But that Uzume girl can be a real slave driver, ya know?"

Adult Neptune ran up to Croire. "We're gonna stop you here, and I'll put you back into my Nep Note forever!"

"Good luck trying!" Croire smiled. "But I'm still surprised you guys came here. This giant Share Crystal basically holds all the stored share energy that Uzume had before being sealed. So, if you destroy this thing, both Uzumes will disappear, along with Heart and Zero Dimension."

"That's why we're not destroying it," Neptune said. "We're going to cut the Darkness from it!"

Croire let out a laugh. "Good luck trying. That is, if you get a chance..."

At Croire's last words, she flew high into the sky as Dark White appeared.

"Oh great. Another one of these things..." Noire let out a groan.

"It'll be of no problem to us," Vert said. She then cocked her head. "Hm?"

"What's wrong, Vert?" Neptune asked.

"It's just that this Dark CPU seems to have a...smaller proportion size compared to the rest..." Vert said.

"Oh yeah! You're right!" Neptune said.

"Must have something to do with the fact that each of the Dark CPUs absorbed our powers," Noire said.

Vert nodded. "Maybe they also took our body shapes too."

"Wait, no!" Neptune pointed towards Dark White's chest. "Look! That chest size is slightly bigger than Blanc's!"

"N-Neptune!" Blanc's eyes gleamed red as she glared at Neptune.

"Maybe Kurome felt pity for Blanc and made it's proportions a bit bigger," Vert suggested.

"THAT FUCKING DOES IT!" Blanc roared. "EVERYONE TRANSFORM RIGHT NOW!"

Without hesitation, the CPUs quickly activated their HDD forms and readied their weapons. Uzume gulped. "B-Blansy is so scary..."

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY!?" Blanc shouted at Uzume.

"N-Nothing!" Uzume quickly responded. "S-Shaving Fields, a-activate!"

As the Sharing Field surrounded the area, Hikan let out a laugh. "Blanc scared Uzume so badly that she fumbled with her words..."

"That's what happens if you're not used to Blanc's rage," IF muttered.

Before anyone else could make anymore comments, Dark White materialized an axe and slammed it down towards everyone.

Blanc, fueled by rage, lunged towards Dark White and slammed her axe against Dark White's.

Dark White's strike was parried and left it open. Taking that opportunity, Blanc rocketed towards her Dark CPU clone and smashed her axe into it's head.

The Dark CPU wasn't given anytime to recover as Blanc's axe was filled with rainbow energy and she threw her axe down at Dark White's core. A second later, the Dark CPU blew up as the core was struck.

As Blanc landed back to the platform, everyone stared at her with looks of either terror or amazement.

Tolise turned to Uzume. "And that, Uzume, is why you never piss off Blanc."

"B-Blansy is super scary..." Uzume tried to hide behind Umio as her Sharing Field faded away.

Croire stared at Blanc in shock as she floated down. "To think that one angry CPU could have enough power to defeat a Dark CPU in matter of minutes..."

As Croire floated to the same plane as everyone, Adult Neptune lunged towards her and clamped her into her Nep Note. "Gotcha, Crostie!"

"H-Hey! Let me out!" Croire shouted as Adult Neptune opened the book to the now-2D Croire.

Adult Neptune responded Croire's pleas with a grin. "Sorry! Can't let it happen!"

"Alright, now we have to take care of that negative energy," Neptune nodded towards the giant Share Crystal circulating with energy. She turned to Noire, Blanc and Vert. "Let's transform. Then, transfer all your energy to me."

They nodded and entered their NEXT Forms. As they did so, Noire, Blanc and Vert's energy all began to flow into Neptune, causing her sword to radiate with a purple energy. Neptune turned to face everyone else. "Please, pray."

Everyone else nodded and closed their eyes to pray. In an instant, a rainbow energy erupted from Neptune and her sword crackled with purple lightning. Neptune then took a stance. "Here I go!"

Without another word, Neptune rocketed towards the Share Crystal. As she neared it, she slashed at it with all the energy she had. "HAAAAA!"

Her blade struck the dark energy and sliced through it. However, it recovered a second later and Neptune's blade clashed against the dark energy.

Neptune then pulled her blade away and landed back at where everyone stood.

"It's no good. Even with all of our energy, it only managed to destroy a bit of the dark energy before it reformed," Neptune said.

"Then let's head back to base and try to come up with a new plan," Uzume said.

Everyone nodded and followed Uzume back to the makeshift base.

* * *

An hour after brainstorming and coming up with no ideas, Nepgear, along with Gold Third and the other CPU Candidates returned.

"Neptune!" Nepgear ran into the base, smiling when she saw her sister.

"Hey, Geasy," Uzume waved at her. "How'd it go for you guys?"

"We had to use the Share Crystal to defeat a Dark CPU," Nepgear explained. "Then we chased Kurome and got back the console. After that, she ran all the way here and we chased after her."

"How about you guys?" S-Sha asked.

"Well, we defeated our fakes, then we had to help Uzume out with some personal things," Neptune explained. "But then we destroyed another Dark CPU and tried to destroy the negativity in Kurome's heart. But we couldn't, so we decided to come back here."

"So, what happens now?" Adult Neptune asked.

"W-Woah!" Suddenly, the building began to tremor and everyone fell to the floor. Uzume stared at the building in confusion. "H-Hey! What's going on?!"

"Looks like she finally did it," Croire murmured.

"Kurome? What did she do!?" Adult Neptune asked.

"I held the power of the CPU from another dimension. Earlier, Kurome took that power from me," Croire explained. "Guess she's using it now. Now, she can move the dimensions even faster..."

"That gives me an idea!" Uzume turned to everyone. "Hey! Let's go defeat the other me!"

"Are you sure?" Neptune asked.

Uzume nodded. "Don't sweat it! I have a plan!"

* * *

As they arrived in another destroyed city, everyone found Kurome bursting with dark energy. Purple lightning crackled around her while the city shook. "So, it's the other me..."

"Stop this right now!" Noire demanded.

"Why would I stop?" Kurome asked. "With this amazing power, I can move the dimensions closer even faster!"

"We've defeated all your Dark CPUs! It's just you against all of us!" Hikan said.

Kurome smiled. "Really?"

At the snap of Kurome's fingers, Dark Purple, Green, Black and White all stood before them once again.

Uzume stared at them in shock. "How is that possible!? We just defeated them!"

"You're forgetting this is my dreams," Kurome said. "I can create as many as I want..."

"Then we'll just defeat them all again!" Tolise said.

"Is that so?" Kurome continued to smile. "Dark CPUs! Combine into one!"

At Kurome's command, the four Dark CPUs all emitted lights of corresponding colors and charged towards each other. In a bright flash, they emerged as one Dark CPU, emitting energy of all four colors.

"And that's not all!" Kurome shouted. "Now, I'll combine with it!"

The dark energy enveloped the Dark CPU and connected to Kurome. In another bright flash, they emerged as a new Dark CPU. One with a fiery orange color scheme and emitting dark energy.

"HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR ODDS NOW!?" Kurome roared.

"Not only does she now have the other dimension's CPU's power, but now she also has our power and the strength of the Dark CPUs," Vert said.

"And it's all combined into one thing too..." Blanc added.

"Then we'll pop out the Sharing Field and defeat it!" Uzume said.

"DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT PUNY THING CAN CONTAIN MY POWER!?" Kurome shouted. "BESIDES, IF I DIE, WE'LL BOTH DIE!"

"At least I'll be able to stop the shift to Hyper Dimension if I take your power!" Uzume said.

"So you're going to take that CPU's powers and stop the shift?" S-Sha asked.

Uzume nodded. "Yeah! And, I'll create the Sharing Field by using that giant Share Crystal over there!"

"THAT'S WHAT'S KEEPING US ALIVE! IF YOU USE THAT, WE COULD BOTH DIE!" Kurome shouted.

"That's why I'll use it to weaken our strength and create the Sharing Field to defeat you!" Uzume said. "This will be my last HDD!"

As all the CPUs activated their HDD forms, the Gold Third activated their Gold Forms, the two Spawns released their Devils' energy, they all materialized their weapons.

"Sharing Field, activate!" As Uzume activated her Sharing Field, the energy from the giant Share Crystal moved behind her position and began pouring nearly all the share energy into the Sharing Field until there was barely any remaining.

As the Share Crystal was left at a very dim glow, Uzume cast the Sharing Field, bursting the entire area around with orange energy. While Kurome and everyone else was enveloped in the Sharing Field, the platforms also turned to orange, transparent ones. The giant Sharing Crystal loomed over them all.

"EVEN IF YOU CAN CREATE THE SHARING FIELD, YOU'LL STILL DIE!" Kurome shouted.

At Kurome's last words, she materialized a pair of blades and slashed at them.

Before the pair of giant blades hit either of them, S-Sha and Noire clashed against them, holding the blades back.

While the blades were locked in place, Vert followed Blanc towards Kurome's head and they both swung at her.

Kurome quickly brought her blades up and slashed at them. This time, K-Sha, B-Sha and Uni shot the blades away.

Before Kurome could react, Silver and Tolise jumped in and slashed at the blades, slicing them right off.

Following that, Blanc and Vert swung at Kurome again. This time, Kurome was hit and stumbled back.

Before Kurome recovered, Rom and Ram barraged Kurome with shards of ice.

While Kurome blocked the shards with one hand, she blasted energy at them with her other hand.

Rom and Ram, unable to avoid the blast, fell to the platforms as Kurome materialized an axe.

Hikan and Neptune then came in from behind Kurome and slashed down at her.

Kurome quickly swung the axe at them, knocking them and their weapons away.

Before Kurome recovered from her position, Nepgear slashed at Kurome from the back of her head.

Kurome stumbled forward before spinning around to knock Nepgear away.

As Nepgear fell, C-Sha smashed her fist into the back of Kurome's head, losing her weapon and causing her to fall forward.

While Kurome rose back to her feet, she kicked away C-Sha to face the oncoming Uzume. Kurome materialized a barrage of spears and fired them all at Uzume.

Uzume countered by using her megaphone to blow away all the spears.

As the spears were all blown away, Kurome formed a sphere of dark energy and threw it at Uzume.

Uzume filled her free fist with orange energy and slammed it against the sphere, scattering the energy into thousands of bits. Uzume then followed up by diving towards Kurome.

Before Kurome had any time to react, Uzume kicked off of Kurome's core. Following that, Uzume materialized two circles at her side. As she let out a loud blast of sound waves, the two circles shot out beams of energy aimed also at Kurome's core.

The sound waves and beams of energy smashed into Kurome's core, slamming her down. Without giving Kurome a second to recover, Uzume boosted towards Kurome, transferring all of her energy to her fist.

As Kurome brought her head up, Uzume's fist slammed into Kurome's core.

Just as Uzume slowly made her way back to a platform, Kurome's body began to crack and break, letting energy escape from the cracks.

"N-NO! NO! NO! I-I WON'T LOSE HERE! I CAN"T LOSE HERE!" Kurome shouted as her body broke.

As Kurome blew up into a bright light, Uzume crumpled to the ground as the Sharing Field broke and everyone reverted back to their original forms. "I-It's over..."

"GROOOOAAAR!"

"H-Huh?" Hearing the cries of an army of monsters, everyone turned to see the army of monsters slowly making their way towards them. "W-What the hell!?"

"Why are there so many monsters!?" Noire asked.

"Kurome must've commanded them all to attack Hyper Dimension before she died..." Croire suggested.

"S-So Kurome really did win..." Nepgear said.

"None of us are in any condition to fight against these monsters..." S-Sha said.

"N-No... There's still one way..." Uzume said. She turned to Nepgear. "Nepgear, destroy my Share Crystal..."

* * *

 **Nepgear' POV**

I stared at Uzume blankly. "H-Huh?"

Uzume pointed to the giant Share Crystal that was keeping her alive. "Destroy my Share Crystal."

"W-Why...? Why, Uzume?" I asked.

"If we destroy this dimension and Zero Dimension, the monsters won't be able to get to Hyper Dimension. Your weapon is the only one strong enough to destroy it," Uzume said. "Besides, it's my job to protect my juniors after all."

"B-But...why me...?" I asked.

The thought of killing Uzume was something I couldn't fathom. After everything she had been through, I was going to be the one responsible for her death.

"Because," Uzume answered. "You've stuck with me through this whole ordeal. Please, do it for me and save everyone."

Before I knew it, tears were rolling down my face. But I nodded. "O-Okay..."

The white light engulfed me and I found myself in my HDD form with my gunblade. I aimed it at the Share Crystal. My body trembled as I tried to aim at the Share Crystal. It wasn't just me destroying a Share Crystal; I was killing Uzume too.

"…"

While my finger loomed over the trigger, the memories of the times we spent with Uzume flooded in. Why did I have to kill her? She didn't do anything wrong...

"Gearsy! Shoot!" Uzume suddenly shouted.

I fell to my knees. "I-I can't do it!"

"Nepgear," a hand touched my shoulder and I looked up to see my sister, in her HDD form. "Don't worry. I'll carry this burden with you. Together..."

I sniffled and wiped away my tears. "O-Okay..."

I rose back to my feet and held the weapon up again. This time, Neptune held it with me and squeezed my fingers.

"Together..."

I turned away and squeezed my eyes shut as we shot the beam at the Share Crystal.

As I heard the sound of the Share Crystal breaking, I let my tears flow again. "U-Uzume..."

I opened my eyes. The Share Crystal was no longer there. Uzume smiled at me. "Thank you, Gearsy... Now, take everyone and go. I'll hold them off for as long as I can."

At Uzume's last words, we all ran from Heart Dimension, leaving Uzume...

 _Uzume... I'm sorry..._

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This is the end of the Megadimension Arc!**

 **Not.**

 **The next chapter will be the last chapter of the Megadimension Arc, I promise. Also, I uploaded this really early just because I had some time. Anyways, until then, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Do you honestly believe any type of negativity can be overcome?**


	154. Chapter 154

Chapter 154

 **Third Person POV**

Just before Neptune and the others arrived back at the portal to Hyper Dimension, she suddenly stopped. Everyone turned back to her.

"Neptune, why'd you suddenly stop?" Noire asked. "We have to hurry back before the dimensions collapse."

"B-But...I don't think we should have left Uzume," Neptune protested.

"I know how you're feeing, little me," Adult Neptune said. "But that was what Uzume wanted. I didn't want to leave her either."

Neptune shook her head. "No, I'm going back! If we're going to get that Happy Ending, we're going to get that ending with everyone!"

Nepgear nodded. "I'll go too! I don't want to see Uzume lose herself!"

Adult Neptune smiled. "I'll also come! I could warp us out anyways!"

"I'd also like to go," Tolise said. He turned to Silver and Hikan. "Are you two going to come too?"

They nodded. "Of course."

"H-Hey! You all can't go!" Noire said. "What if you don't save her in time and you collapse with her?!"

Silver turned to Noire. "That may be true. But, nobody should be left behind. After all that Uzume has been through, she deserves to see the joys that life still has to offer. Letting her die would be a sin."

Blanc shook her head. "Do as you please. Just make sure you come back alive."

Neptune flashed Blanc a peace sign. "Don't worry! We'll be back before you even know it!"

At those last words, the six of them ran back to Heart Dimension, to Uzume...

* * *

"D-Damnit..." Uzume crumpled to her knees as she tried to maintain her breathing. "I-I can't feel my legs... B-But I have to keep fighting...to make sure Nepsy and the others get home..."

She stared at the army of monsters still approaching. She let out a dry laugh. "H-Heh... Funny... This reminds me of all those times when I fought alone... B-But...I won't stop fighting... Even...if my skin peels off...or my bones are broken...I'll fight..."

"Uzume, didn't we already have this talk about not saying things like that?"

"N-Nepsy?!" Uzume, turning around, gasped when she saw Neptune with Nepgear and everyone else. "Why the hell are you guys here!? I did this so that you all could escape!"

"Well, if we're going to have that Happy Ending, it's going to be with you, Uzume!" Adult Neptune said. She then let Uzume lean onto her. "Now, let's all get outta here! Crostie, warp!"

"…."

"Uhhh..." Adult Neptune opened her Nep Note to Croire. "Hey! I thought I said to warp!"

"I'm sorry! This damn book keeps draining my energy!" Croire said.

"Oh no! What do we do now?!" Nepgear wondered.

"GWAHAHAHA! I believe I can help with that!" Affimjoas' voice boomed as a small battleship pulled up to their side.

"Woah! Where'd you get the battleship!?" Hikan asked.

"We have a second one!" Steamax answered. "It was buy one, get another half off!"

Tolise grinned. "I'm not complaining. Let's get on and head outta here!"

As they all quickly boarded the ship, they sped back to Zero Dimension, where Affimojas' main battleship was parked.

* * *

"Uzume!" Umio smiled when Uzume was carried into the main battleship.

"Yo, Umio..." Uzume forced her best smile. "Sorry you have to see me like this..."

"All that matters is that you're safe," Umio reassured her. "We boarded the monsters on. They're all safe."

Uzume let out a hoarse of a laugh. "T-Thank goodness..."

"By the way, where's Noire and everyone else?" Nepgear asked.

"They're back in Hyper Dimension right now," Histoire answered as her face appeared on a screen. "All of Gamindustri has united to defend against the monsters. All of this is to save Uzume."

"Alright!" Neptune turned to Affimojas. "Let's get outta here!"

"GROOOOAR!"

Suddenly, a tremendous force smashed against the battleship, and everyone stumbled over. "W-Woah! What was that?!"

"Some of those pesky monsters are trying to attack the ship!" Steamax said.

Uzume forced herself off of Adult Neptune's shoulder. "Alright! Let's split up and defeat the monsters!"

Tolise nodded. "I'll go with Hikan and Silver. Uzume, you go with Nepgear, Neptune and Adult Neptune. We'll meet back once we've cleared all the monsters."

Uzume nodded. "Good luck!"

* * *

After both groups had defeated several monster hordes, they returned to meet up. "Did you guys finish too?" Uzume asked.

Hikan nodded. "Yeah. But how are you, Uzume? You still aren't in the best condition."

Uzume waved it off. "It's fine. Spit helped. Plus, Gearsy helped bandage me up."

"Ah," Tolise nodded when he saw all of Uzume's bandages wrapped tightly. "Alright, then I guess we head back to Affimojas and give him the all clear."

"Hold on!" Uzume ran to a nearby window. "N-No way!"

"Uzume, what's wrong?" Nepgear asked.

"The other me...she's still alive..." Uzume said.

"What?! No way! We saw her die!" Adult Neptune said. "How could Kurome be alive?!"

Uzume shook her head. "I saw it with my own eyes! We have to go after her!"

"Did you all finish?" Affimojas asked as he approached us.

"Hey, we're gonna go somewhere!" Hikan said. "Could you leave without us?"

"Why?" Affimojas asked. "What's wrong?"

"Kurome is alive!" Neptune said. "We're going to chase after her!"

Affimojas nodded. "I understand. We'll head on back to Hyper Dimension. Good luck to you all."

* * *

After Uzume led everyone to the a nearby city, they found Kurome. She smiled. "I see you followed me..."

"How are you still alive!?" Uzume asked. "We saw you die!"

"Simple," Kurome smiled. "As long as there is still negativity in Gamindustri, I'll still be reborn. Don't you see? I can't die..."

Uzume shook her head. "You're wrong. We're both dead. You and me, we're just mere ghosts now."

"W-What!?" Everyone's attention instantly turned to Uzume.

Uzume continued to stare at her other self. "The moment that our Share Crystal was destroyed, we both died. You know that we're just both waiting to fade away."

"No..." Kurome gritted her teeth and shook her head. "NO! NO! NO! NO! I WON'T ACCEPT THIS! I WILL REVIVE AND GET MY REVENGE ON GAMINDUSTRI!"

Dark energy poured out of Kurome as four lights—purple, white, blue and green—flashed from her also. In a bright flash, she emerged as Dark Orange, once again, and materialized a long sword and axe.

"I WON'T ACCEPT THIS! I WILL WIN AND DESTROY GAMINDUSTRI!"

"No, you won't," Uzume smiled. She turned to everyone else. "Make sure to engrave this HDD transformation into your soul! This WILL be my last HDD!"

They all nodded as Hikan, Neptune, Nepgear and Uzume all activated their HDD forms. Uzume stared up at Kurome. "I'll win and take you down with me!"

"I'll burn your existence into my very soul," Neptune said.

"To use the last of your share energy to transform..." Hikan muttered.

"Sharing Field, activate!" As Uzume shouted the words, the orange energy exploded and surrounded everyone around in the Sharing Field.

"YOU'LL ALL PERISH HERE! I WON'T ACCEPT THIS!" Kurome shouted.

Everyone materialized their weapons. Tolise stared up at Kurome. "I'm sorry..."

As the seven of them each took a stance, Kurome swung her axe down at them.

Silver's body instantly pulsed with energy and he grabbed the axe, struggling to keep it from hitting everyone.

While he kept the axe at bay, everyone else scattered around Kurome and came at her from all six sides.

Using her free hand, Kurome swung her sword at half of them, knocking Neptune, Nepgear and Hikan away. As Uzume, Adult Neptune and Tolise approached, Kurome materialized several circles and shot out several barrage of spears aimed at them.

Uzume used her megaphone to blow the spears away while Adult Neptune and Tolise hopped from spear to spear.

As they neared her, Silver managed to push the axe back up to Kurome, causing her to stumble back.

While Kurome was left unbalanced, Adult Neptune and Tolise both lunged towards and slashed at her core.

Kurome recoiled in pain and swung her axe and sword at the two of them. Being unable to block, they were both slammed down to the platforms with immense force.

Before Kurome could retract her weapons, Silver and Hikan slashed towards Kurome's back.

Kurome quickly kicked them away and followed up by barraging them with spears.

Hikan recovered his balance and, grabbing Silver, exploded into a fiery ball of energy, burning away the spears as they landed back onto the platforms. Silver then hopped back to his feet.

Neptune and Nepgear then sped towards Kurome.

Noticing them, Kurome barraged them with several thousand spears.

Nepgear's blade filled with a rainbow energy and she fired a beam at all of the spears, disintegrating them.

Following that, Neptune dashed ahead at Kurome.

However, Kurome used her axe to knock Neptune's weapon away before using her sword to smash Neptune back to a platform.

As Kurome turned her head around, Uzume slammed her energized fist into her face, smashing Kurome against the Sharing Field's barrier.

Just as Kurome bounced off the barrier, Uzume and everyone else lunged towards Kurome and slashed at her.

A bright flash was created and, as a hole was smashed through Kurome's core, the light faded and Kurome blew up into a flash of black and white energy.

"N-NO! NO! NO! NO! I WON'T ACCEPT THIS! I WON'T!" Kurome shouted as her body continued cracking and breaking.

The Sharing Field broke and Uzume broke from her HDD form. "W-We did it...It's...finally over..."

As Kurome blew up, everyone stared at Uzume with tear-stained eyes. Neptune smiled at Uzume. "Uzume...your existence has been burned into my soul... You won't be forgotten..."

Uzume returned everyone's expressions with her best smile. "Hey, don't sweat it. I'm of the past anyways. I'm just glad that I got to meet you all..."

"Y-Yeah..." Neptune, Nepgear and Hikan all reverted back to their original forms as the entirety of Zero Dimension began to quake.

Uzume turned to Adult Neptune. "Big Nepsy, get everyone out of here."

She nodded and turned to everyone else, opening a portal. "Come on. Let's go..."

"Oh! Wait, Gearsy!" As Nepgear turned back to Uzume, Uzume unbuckled her Visual Radio and placed it into Nepgear's hands. "Keep this to remember me by, alright?"

Nepgear nodded as her eyes filled with tears. "I-I will..."

"Thanks..." Uzume then turned her attention to everyone else. "Well, I guess this is goodbye. It was fun while it lasted!"

Everyone nodded. Taking one final look at Uzume, they all hopped into the portal before it closed.

Uzume smiled. "Thank you, everyone..."

* * *

As everyone returned to Planeptune's Basilicom, Histoire smiled at them. "Welcome back, everyone. You have all done so much."

Neptune bowed her head. "Y-Yeah... B-But...Uzume... S-She's gone..."

Histoire stared at Neptune and shook her head. "It's not like you to give up so easily, Neptune."

Neptune turned her eyes back up to Histoire. "B-But...Histy...U-Uzume... She's...d-dead..."

"Well, what if I told you there was a way to possibly save her?" Histoire asked.

"R-Really!?" Nepgear stared at Histoire with a skeptical expression. "Are you being serious, Histoire?"

She responded with a nod. "Yes. That Visual Radio is proof that Uzume lived. If we use that, it could help us possibly bring back Uzume. However, I cannot guarantee it will be the same Uzume that you guys knew..."

Hikan smiled. "It doesn't matter. If it is possible to revive Uzume, we should still try it!"

Umio nodded. "If it's a possibility, I'd give anything to save Uzume!"

Adult Neptune nodded. "Yeah! I don't want to forget Uzume!"

Histoire nodded. "Alright," she went into another room and returned shortly later with the parts to the swirl mark console. She then began setting it up. "If we use all these components on Uzume's seal and combine the Visual Radio, there is a chance we could revive Uzume."

"Alright! Let's give it a shot then!" Neptune said.

Hearing Neptune's confirmation, Histoire nodded. She then turned to Nepgear. "Nepgear, could you hand me the Visual Radio to plug in?"

Without any hesitation, Nepgear handed the Visual Radio to Histoire and she plugged it in. The console then began to glow.

"It's glowing!" Adult Neptune said.

Histoire nodded. "Now, all we can do is pray for Uzume..."

* * *

 **Uzume's POV**

I felt the warmth of the share energy enter my body as I reformed into my body. I stared around at the area around that was breaking and let out a laugh. "To think that Nepsy would still try to save me. That's so like her..."

Suddenly, a dark energy formed in front of me and the other me formed. She smiled. "You may have also reformed, but I'm the one who will be escaping this hell!"

I shook my head. "No way! Now that you've escaped the whirlpool of delusion, you can't absorb any negative energy. Whoever wins will be the one who gets to live."

The other me just stared at me. "How come you think you can win? You're just part of what I am. The fake always loses after all..."

I shook my head. "No, I'm the you that holds your happiness. I'll win, I swear it!"

Kurome smiled. "Then, let's see who's really stronger. The cub or the lion..."

As the area continued to break around us, we both took stances and ran towards each other, lunging punches.

Pain struck me across the face as we both stumbled back. As I shook the pain away, I lunged towards my other self.

She recovered just before my punch made contact with her cheek. She twisted my arm and I fell to my knees. She then kneed my chin and I fell back.

I pushed myself back up to see my other self lunging a punch towards my face.

I banged my head against her's. While she fell to the floor, I charged towards her and kicked at her.

She suddenly locked her legs with mine and pulled me down with her.

We scrambled to our feet and lunged towards each other once again. Her punch struck me first and my head was jerked to the right.

I turned my eyes back to her and hook kicked her, jerking her to the left.

She then retaliated by enveloping her fist in dark energy and punched at me.

I quickly formed energy into my fist and slammed it against her's.

The force of collision pushed us both back and we skidded to a halt, glaring at each other.

She gritted her teeth at me. "JUST DIE ALREADY!"

I smiled. "No, I can't lose here!"

As more share energy built up inside of me, I used it to activate my HDD form. The warm energy coated me as I felt it cling to my body and blind me in a white light. I then emerged in my HDD form.

I grinned at my baddy other self. "Now Uzume is going to make her dreams come true and beat you up!"

The mean me smiled though. "HDD? Doesn't matter. I'll still win!"

A dark energy burst from her and dark flames emitted from her. "I'll crush you and exact my revenge on Gamindustri!"

Tired of hearing her talking, I charged towards her as she did the same.

As she approached me, she tackled me to the ground and banged my head. While I struggled with the pain, she pulled me back up and kneed me in the jaw, sending me flying back.

I quickly recovered and rose back to my feet as she ran towards me. I prepared myself by digging my feet into the crumbling land and waited for her to tackle me once again.

As she lunged to tackle me to the ground once again, my hands found her's and we pushed against each other.

I pushed my feet deeper into the ground and my body tensed up. I used all my strength and pushed against myself.

Catching her off guard, the other me was pushed to the ground. I then filled my body with energy and kicked her at her chin as hard as I could.

She crashed against a building and created smoke and debris.

I looked around me while I recovered my breath.

The area around me was slowly dwindling and was getting smaller and smaller.

While I stared at the land around, a powerful blow to my face sent me crashing to the ground. I picked myself back up to see my other self approaching me.

She glared at me. "You WON'T win! I'll be the one to be revived and I'll destroy Gamindustri!"

"You're so mean and nasty..." I commented. "Uzume doesn't like that!"

"…!" Suddenly, the realization hit me.

As my other self suddenly burst with dark energy and charged towards me, I simply smiled and my body began to glow with orange energy.

"JUST DIE!"

As the other me lunged a punch at me, I pulled her into a hug, catching her by surprise.

"…"

I leaned in close to her ear and whispered. "Uzume is happy that you were there... Without you, Uzume wouldn't have made such good friends...Uzume is glad that you existed... And Uzume accepts you..."

"...Y-You..." As I pulled her in closer, I watched as her dark colors began to brighten up to my colors. "T-Thank you..."

Her colors returned to the same shade as mine and I was blinded by a bright flash before a warm feeling entered me.

 _Thank you..._

* * *

 **Third Person POV**

As everyone stared at the console as it continued to glow brighter and brighter, the console suddenly blinded everyone with a warm orange glow.

From the glow, Uzume emerged from it, wrapped in the orange light. The light disappeared and Uzume reverted back to her original form. Everyone held their breath as they stared at the Uzume in front of them, unsure of which one it was.

Suddenly, she smiled at everyone as her eyes opened. "Yo! I'm back, everyone!"

"Uzume!" Everyone ran up to her and hugged her. Umio stared at her. "Uzume, welcome back!"

Uzume grinned at him and nodded. "Yup! I'm back!"

…

…

A few months had passed since Uzume had been revived as her normal self. Since then, the delusional monsters had all been destroyed from Gamindustri, the Gold Third had been praised as heroes for protecting the nations while the CPUs were gone and peace had returned to Gamindustri.

B-Sha waved the customer goodbye as they left. "Thank you! Have a nice day!"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"

"Hm?" B-Sha turned to another part of the store to see Chuko trying to scold Warechu once again. "Oh boy..."

B-Sha let out a sigh and stared at Chuko, who was attempting to talk some sense into Warechu. "You're supposed to be working! Not slacking off!"

Warechu simply turned his head away from Chuko and crossed his arms. "Can it, chu! The only reason I'm doing this is because Compa asked me nicely to, chu!"

"I seriously can't stand you!" As Warechu waddled off, Chuko stamped over to B-Sha. "What's that rat's problem?! Seriously!?"

B-Sha smiled at Chuko. "Well, maybe you'd score some better points if you tried being nicer to Warechu."

"R-Really!?" Chuko turned to B-Sha and stared at her with interested eyes. "Could you tell me some more?!"

"Well, maybe if you—wait," B-Sha suddenly stopped. "If I say anymore, I'll have to charge you a thousand Credits..."

Chuko's eyes widened. "Y-You're going to charge your own boss!? B-But...maybe I will pay this time..."

As Chuko dropped the thousand Credits into B-Sha's hands, she smiled. "Thanks for your business!"

* * *

S-Sha let out a sigh as she leaned against a tree trunk. C-Sha then smiled and turned to Dogoo Man and Dogoo Lady. C-Sha offered Dogoo Man a slab of meat. "Alright! Gooman, do you want to try this roast?"

Dogoo Man nodded and C-Sha tossed him the slab of roasted meat. Dogoo man caught it and began tearing away at it. "Oh! This roast is simply amazing! C-Sha's ability to roast is unbeatable! S-Sha, do you want to try some?"

S-Sha turned up her nose. "I'll pass..."

Suddenly, E-Sha took over their body. "I-I'd like some..."

Dogoo Man formed a wide grin. He tore off a piece of the meat and tossed it at E-Sha. E-Sha caught it and popped it into her mouth. She then smiled. "It's good..."

S-Sha then took back over the body as E-Sha swallowed the meat. "By the way, C-Sha. How much longer until we arrive in that alchemy village?"

C-Sha nodded. "Just a few more days."

"Right..." S-Sha nodded. "Sorry for dragging you out for this."

C-Sha shrugged. "I don't mind. Now that the world is safe, there isn't much to do. So I don't mind guiding you around."

S-Sha let out a sigh. "I guess..."

"Anyways," C-Sha put out her roasting fire. "Let's keep going. If we keep moving at this pace, we'll be there sooner than expected."

S-Sha nodded. "Alright. Let's get going..."

* * *

"GWAHAHAHA!" Affimojas boomed out a laugh and turned to Steamax. "Steamax! Come check out this amazing figure of Vert!"

"Did you call?" Steamax asked as he suddenly appeared in Affimojas' office.

Affimojas flashed the figure of Vert for Steamax to see while he poked at the figure's bosom. "Look at this Vert figure! No other figure can rival this blonde, busty beauty! Even the chest area has been made with a soft material to stimulate the feeling!"

Steamax stared at the figure, impressed. "That's a revolutionary figure, General!"

"Indeed..." Affimojas nodded as he stared at the figure. "I believe this figure will be a smash hit for all the people!"

While Affimojas and Steamax admired the Vert figure, the door to Affimojas' office was suddenly kicked open by Noire. Her face was beet red, her eyes flickered with anger and embarrassment and she tightly gripped a newspaper in her hands. K-Sha was standing behind her.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?" Noire stamped up to Affimojas' desk and slammed the paper down in front of him.

For a moment, Affimojas stared at the newspaper article with confusion. Then he turned his head up to Noire. "What's the matter? It's just a newspaper article."

Noire shook her head. "THIS ISN'T JUST ANY NEWS ARTICLE!" She jabbed her index finger at the various articles highlighting her and K-Sha. "THESE ARE ARTICLES SPECIFICALLY TELLING HOW K-SHA AND I ARE LOVERS! CARE TO EXPLAIN!?"

"I don't know what the problem is," Affimojas said. "K-Sha herself sent me these articles to write about."

K-Sha nodded. "I just wanted everyone to know about our beautiful relationship together, Noire!"

Noire turned to K-Sha. "But these articles just make it seem like we're lovers!"

Steamax let out a sigh. "I should probably get out of here before things get too out of hand..."

So, while Noire argued, Steamax slipped out of Affimojas' office. "Maybe I'll go see Lady Uni..."

* * *

"Ah..." Blanc stretched out her arms as she finished the last chapter of her story. "It's finally done..."

Hikan, who had been in her room, walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her small body. "Did you finally finish?"

Blanc nodded and held his hands. "Yup."

"Lady Blanc? Sir Hikan? Can I come in?" Financier asked as she knocked on the door.

"Yeah!" Hikan pulled away from Blanc as the door to her room opened. Financier was holding a tray with a hot, piping teapot with several teacups and a plate of dumplings.

"Oh, did you finish your writing, Lady Blanc?" Financier asked as she set the tray down at the desk.

Blanc nodded. "Yup. Fiction is good to write and all, but a bit of nonfiction is nice too."

"Do I appear in the story?" Financier asked.

Blanc responded with yet another nod. "Everyone does. Hikan, Rom, Ram, you, C-Sha, Aznaleb. Everyone."

"I see..." Financier smiled. "Speaking of which, where are Rom and Ram?"

Blanc shrugged. "I sent them off to Vert's place so that I could focus on writing."

Meanwhile, Rom and Ram sat in Vert's room, staring at the pictures in her book.

Ram pointed to one of the pictures. "Hey, Vert! Why are those guys in the picture not wearing any clothes?"

"W-Won't they catch a cold...?" Rom asked.

Vert shook her head and pointed towards the muscular men. "Actually, no! Look closely! Because they are so muscular, they won't catch a cold."

Rom and Ram gasped. "Woah! Muscular men are so cool!"

Rom nodded. "M-Muscles are amazing..."

"Indeed they are," Vert said with a smile. "By the way, call me big sister Vert, or Vertsy!"

"Huh?" The two sisters looked up at Vert. "But you're not our older sister. Blanc is."

"Oh..." Vert let out a sigh as she heaved a large bag of candy onto her lap. "And here I had all of this candy, which I could only share with my relatives..."

"Oh! I want some, big sister Vert!" Ram said.

"M-Me too, big sis..." Rom added.

* * *

Uni let out a sigh as she stared at the large pile of paperwork sitting on her desk. "Man, thanks to Noire not being here, I have to do so much work... I can't even go to hang out with Nepgear anymore..."

"Then allow me to assist you, Lady Uni," Steamax said as he suddenly appeared in Uni's room.

"A-Ah!" Uni, surprised, fell out of her chair and turned back to see Steamax. "H-Hey! Why are you in my room?! That's an invasion of privacy!"

"T-This is your room!?" Steamax asked. "Come to think of it, it is decorated to your liking and it does smell of your...s-s-scent..."

Uni picked herself up and smiled at Steamax. "Steamax, which gun do you like the best? An assault rifle, a Gatling gun or an anti-tank rifle?"

Steamax cocked his head at Uni with confusion. "H-Huh?"

"Because I'll make sure to unload the entire clip into your thick head!" Uni shouted.

"E-Eek!" Steamax suddenly hid behind her bed. "I-I'm sorry!"

Uni let out a sigh. "It was just a joke. You can help me if you want..."

"R-Really?" Steamax let out a sigh as he stood back up. "Thank goodness..."

"BUT!" Uni added. "If you try anything weird, I'll make sure you regret it!"

"I-I got it..." Steamax nodded timidly.

* * *

"Tolise! Tolise! Tolise!" While Tolise sat in the Basilicom's living room and read, Neptune ran in and tackled him into a hug.

"O-Ow..." he patted her head and let out a laugh. "What's up, Neptune?"

"Uzume is coming back today!" Neptune said happily. "Aren't you excited?!"

"She's returning? What do you mean?" Tolise asked.

In reaction, Neptune puffed her cheeks and flicked Tolise's head. "You dummy! Don't you remember? Even I remembered!"

Tolise set his book down on the table and sighed. "Neptune, I seriously don't know what you're talking about."

"Uzume is coming back after her trip," Silver blurted out as he entered the room, followed by Nepgear and Histoire. "I'm surprised you forgot..."

"Oh yeah..." Tolise let out a dry laugh. "Didn't she head off with the Adult Neptune and Umio?"

"Yup!" Neptune nodded. "She said she wanted to see how Gamindustri has changed and wanted to experience it!"

Nepgear smiled. "Before she left, she said something about 'starting back from zero.'"

"Actually, they should be back any moment now," Histoire stated.

"HEY! We're back!" Uzume's familiar voice shouted out as a portal appeared at the ceiling.

"We're bac—W-Wah!" Before Adult Neptune could say her piece, she, Uzume and Umio fell from the portal and crashed to the floor. "O-Ow... Shoot. Did the coordinates bug up again? I could have sworn I placed the right coordinates..."

"Sorry. Must have heard wrong," Croire apologized.

"It was you, wasn't it?!" Adult Neptune and Uzume glared at Croire as she opened her Nep Note. "I should pin you down with needles! You do this every time!"

"Here, Big Nepsy," Umio handed her some pufferfish needles. "I got these from some pufferfish. You could use these."

"Alright!" Uzume formed a wide grin and swiped a few of the needles from Adult Neptune. "I wanna stab her down too!"

"Aren't you two forgetting something though?" Umio asked.

"Hm?" Uzume's attention turned up to everyone staring down at them. "Oh! Hey guys!"

"How was your journey, Uzume?" Neptune asked. "Was it everything you hoped it would be?"

Uzume nodded. "Yeah! Everyone is nice and friendly, the food is good and there was even this one brat who had bought one of my consoles during the Grassroots campaign that remembered me!"

"Uzume, you're still forgetting something," Umio said.

"Oh yeah!" Uzume and Adult Neptune grinned up at everyone. "We're home!"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This is the end of the Megadimension Arc! I can't say this enough, but thank you all to the ones who have stuck around for so long! Immediately, we're going to move onto Arc Five. Be warned that some of you might not like what's going to be in Arc Five. However, there will be a good ending with a meaning at the end of it all. Also, if you don't know yet, Arc Five will only be six chapters, making Chapter 160 the last chapter. To add on to that, there will not be an Author's Note until the last chapter. Once again though, thank you all for the support that you've all provided. Anyways, thanks for reading, hope you'll enjoy the last six chapters, and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Question:**

 **Now that the Megadimension Arc is over, are you mentally prepared for Arc Five? If not, then you should go prepare yourself.**


	155. Chapter 155

Chapter 155

 **Silver's POV**

I unbuckled the straps keeping me tied down and hopped off the cold, metal table. I let out a sigh and wiped the sweat drenching my body as Histoire entered the room.

I turned to her. "How was the testing this time?"

Histoire stared at me with a grim expression. "It's getting worse... The meter is practically full..."

I turned to stare up at the fluorescent lights. "I see..."

"Silver," Histoire placed a hand onto my shoulder. "What will you do?"

I shook my head and tightened my fist. "Don't worry about it. I'll figure something out by tomorrow..."

"Silver..." Reaching the door, Histoire called back to me. "You realize this could possibly be your last day, right?"

"…" Without saying anything, I nodded and walked out of the room, back to my own room.

I sat on my bed and closed my eyes.

 _What will I do...?_

* * *

 _I floated lifelessly in the dark void. "I know you're here... Show yourself..."_

 _"Of course," The Darkness—it's black human silhouette—suddenly appeared in front of me as I was brought to my feet. "Guess it wasn't that hard to sense me, huh? I'm just really excited for tomorrow..."_

 _I stared down to meet more of the black void. "You mean_ _ **that**_ _?"_

 _It chuckled. "Please, just stop calling it_ _ **that**_ _. Why don't you explain to everyone what it is instead of being so discreet? The end is coming after all..."_

 _I nodded. "Yeah..."_

 _It cocked it's head at me. "Or, could it be that you don't know what it is that will happen tomorrow?"_

 _I shook my head. "I know too well what it is; I'm going to lose myself..."_

 _It nodded. "That's right... Because you absorbed me—no matter how strong you are—I'll take over your body, just like everyone else in your dimension..."_

 _I continued it's explanation. "Because you are the culmination of all the hatred, all the feelings of wanting revenge, the feelings of wanting to kill and all those negative and sad feelings..."_

 _"That's right..." The Darkness said. "Now do you see why it's all hopeless? Even if you hadn't absorbed me, I would have destroyed everything that you loved. Don't you see? That, by absorbing me, you brought more pain onto yourself by allowing me to take over your body to tear away all the bonds you formed?"_

 _I shook my head. "It doesn't matter... I swore that I would find a way to stop you and end this madness... I swore that I would..."_

 _It smiled. "And, still, I have yet to see you do it... Are you even worthy?"_

 _I just stared at it's silhouette. "No... Nobody is. But I can try..."_

 _The Darkness let out a laugh that echoed throughout the void. "Then let's see it happen!"_

* * *

"H-Hey, Silver," I felt Nepgear's voice calling me back from my sleep as she nudged me. "You don't want to waste a good day..."

"N-Nepgear?" My eyes fluttered open to see Nepgear sitting on my bed. I suddenly snapped myself awake and grabbed her hands. "Nepgear, what time is it?! Is it still the same day!?"

"Y-Yeah..." Nepgear seemed taken back by my sudden questions, "you only slept for an hour or so... It's around the afternoon..."

I nodded and got up from my bed, dressing myself. As I pulled my jacket on, I turned to her and smiled. "I'll be back, I promise..."

"O-Okay..." Nepgear stared at me with confusion written all over her face. "Where are you going?"

I grabbed my old sword that I hadn't held since I first came to Gamindustri. "I need to confirm something. I'll be back."

Nepgear nodded. "Y-Yeah..."

I exited my room and took the elevator down to where Hikan's room was; I knocked on the door. "Hikan, you there?"

"Hold on!" After hearing some banging sounds and screeching cats, Hikan opened the door to his room, dressed. "Hey. What's up?"

I let out a sigh. "Do you remember that time quite a while ago when I asked you to fight me?"

Hikan nodded cautiously. "Yeah... W-Why?"

I stared deep into his fiery red eyes. "We're going to fight again."

* * *

The two of us stood at the edge of a mountain range, staring each other down. Hikan shook his head. "I still don't understand why you want to fight me..."

I unsheathed my blade and stared him down as he did the same. "It's to test your will. To see if your will to protect is really strong enough..."

"But we've already fought over this," Hikan said. "We don't have to fight again!"

I shook my head. "Considering what's about to happen, we'll have to. I'm sorry..."

Hikan gritted his teeth as he burst into flames and emerged in his HDD form. His katana was set ablaze. "Whatever your reason is, I'll fight with the sole intention of ending your life!"

I nodded and let both my Devils unleash all of their powers. "Good..."

Without another word, we both took stances, letting the silence fall over us. The only sounds were the crackling flames and the blowing wind.

"…"

"Grah!"

Flames exploded as Hikan jetted towards me.

I jumped into the air, barely avoiding his slash. I spun in the air and slashed at Hikan's back.

He caught himself with his hands and kicked my blade away.

While I fell from the air, he pushed himself towards me and his feet found my jaw, knocking me back.

I quickly slowed down time and recovered my foot, bouncing off the side of the wall before resuming time. I dived towards and slashed at him.

As Hikan slashed a wave of flames at me, I Blinked behind me and slammed his head into the ground.

The second I pulled my hand away, Hikan's body flared up into flames and, in a flash, he kicked me in the gut.

A tremendous force rippled throughout my body and I was sent flying, crashing through several boulders before smashing into the mountain side.

I bounced off the side but was slammed back against it as Hikan's arm slammed against me. A second later, his blade slammed into my gut.

"HAA!"

His body erupted into greater flames and the flames blasted into me. I felt the intense heat scorching and melting my skin away.

"AGGH!" I let out a cry as all of my muscles tensed up. The Devils erupted from my body and coated me in an armor. I then fought through the flames and charged towards Hikan.

Shocked to see me, I used my blade and slashed at him.

The surprise caused him to be slashed and he stumbled back, extinguishing the flames. While the area around us burned, I materialized several dozen knives and commanded them all to attack Hikan.

As several struck Hikan, his body burst into flames and he burned all the knives away.

Just as my armor faded, Hikan lunged towards me and formed another blade before slashing at me once again.

I pulled his blade from my gut and held both blades in my hands, preparing myself for Hikan's oncoming strike

As he reached me and slashed down at me, I Blinked behind him and pulsed out a gust of wind at him.

Once he bounced off the side of the mountain, I threw both blades at him, pinning him to the mountain side and causing him to let go of my blade.

"Haa...haaa..." I struggled to catch my breath as my Devils' energy faded away. I then collapsed to the ground but forced myself back up before I began dragging myself towards Hikan, whose HDD had broke. "D-Damnit..."

"Ha!" Just as I was a few meters from him, he somehow escaped the side of the mountain and tackled me to the ground.

Without any energy left to fight back, I struggled to free myself from Hikan's grip. I banged my head against his and he stumbled back.

However, he grabbed my arm and burst into flames. The flames made their way over to me as I felt myself being burned. My muscles all tensed again as I felt everything burn away.

Suddenly, my vision was shrouded by the flames and I felt myself losing consciousness. My eyes rolled back and I fell to the ground.

* * *

 **Hikan's POV**

"Haaa...ha..." I crumpled to my knees as the flames extinguished and stared at Silver, now a burnt corpse. "W-Why...Why did you want me to kill...you...?"

I forced myself up to my feet while the sweat beads trickled down my face and stared at him. "Why...?"

Suddenly, a black shroud consumed him and his body burst into black flames. I watched in shock as he floated back to his feet and a sinister smile crossed his face.

He glared up at me, his eyes were completely black. He cocked his head at me, "Why? Because I can't be killed by the likes of you!"

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU!?" I shouted at his face.

His smile grew wider. "I'm the shadow that you never showed. At least, not in this dimension..."

Before I had any time to react, I found myself pinned to the ground, pain pounding through my skull.

I was then grabbed by my hair and pulled up to the air, staring into his black eyes. "What a shame... You thought you could win..."

Suddenly, I felt a blade stab through my gut and I was pinned to the ground.

My vision slowly blurred as I stared up at the person standing in front of me. "To think that you thought you could defeat me..."

I gritted my teeth and glared up at him. I thought of what Silver said.

 _"It's to test your will. To see if your will to protect is really strong enough..."_

 _I'll protect the people I love... I swear it!_

Suddenly, a shot of immense strength entered me.

"GRAAAH!" I gritted my teeth and pulled the blade from my gut, causing him to turn back to me.

"Oh? Looks like you're no bitch boy..." he grinned. "Give me your best shot..."

Blinded by rage, my body erupted into roaring flames and I charged towards him. I grabbed his hand and set him ablaze.

Instantly, the dark energy faded from him and my flames extinguished. I then fell to the ground. "Haa...haa..."

While I struggled to catch my breath, I heard Silver's voice come back. "H-Hey...Hikan..."

"Y-Yeah...?" I forced myself to look at the burnt Silver; he wore a smile.

"Thanks..." he coughed out. "Looks like your will really is still as strong as it had been when I first fought you..."

I watched as his body healed slowly, reforming his skin. "B-But...why...? Why fight me now...?"

Silver frowned and turned to look me in the eyes; his expression was dead serious. "I'm leaving tomorrow... And, when I do, you have to protect Gamindustri... If not...then it's doomed..."

I stared deep into his eyes. Somewhere in there, they showed signs of sadness and loneliness. It was then that I understood exactly what he meant.

I nodded. "I'll do my best..."

* * *

 **Silver's POV**

I stared at myself. The Devils' energy had healed me and I was back to my usual self. I turned my gaze out of my window. It was an hour before midnight. I let out a sigh and pushed myself off the bed that I would leave, the room that I would leave, the family that I would leave, and the love that I would leave.

Forever...

Taking one final glance at Planeptune's Basilicom, I pulled on my hood and began walking away from the Basilicom.

However, a few minutes later, I found somebody standing in my way. Though, I already knew who it was.

I looked up at the person in front of me, Tolise. "Hey..."

I returned his stare with a nod. "Hey..."

"Listen," he stepped up to me. "Running away isn't the answer. Don't do it."

I shook my head as my eyes stared deep into his. "No. Because, if I don't go, I'll cause more harm than necessary. You know what will happen."

"We can help you through it," Tolise continued.

I shook my head. "Still, I don't want to risk it for anyone. I'm doing this to protect Nepgear, Uzume, Hikan, Neptune, you and everyone else. I don't want Nepgear to wake up to see the monster that I am."

Tolise let out a sigh, realizing that he couldn't stop me. "Whatever. I'll let you go. But, I promise that I'll find a way to save you. I'll pray for your safety."

I nodded as I walked passed Tolise and continued to walk through the empty streets, leaving behind Tolise and the people that I loved...


	156. Chapter 156

Chapter 156

I stood at the edge of Planeptune, staring down at the deep blue ocean. I then turned my attention up to the sky as the sun began to rise and brighten the skies up

 _Are you ready to say goodbye to your life?_

I shook my head. "You know that answer better than anyone else... You rhetorical fuck..."

 _And you said that you would stop me... What a joke..._

I felt the strong wind blow against me. "No, I still will..."

 _Then I guess I'll just have to see what happens... Goodbye, you Spawn of Satan!_

* * *

 **Third Person POV**

"…!" Hearing the Darkness' final words, something snapped inside of Silver's mind. He crumpled to his knees, clutching his skull. Every part of him felt as if it were being slowly ripped apart and that the searing pain was slowly creeping up his skin.

"Gh...!" As Silver struggled to control his body while the Darkness crept up his body with black sludge coating him, he forced his body to dive off the landmass of Planeptune, deep into the dark ocean.

As he fell into the seas, he felt his body go numb as he lost control over his body. While his muscles tightened up and his eyes rolled back, he passed out as the last bit of sludge consumed his body.

"…."

The citizens, blissfully unaware, walked by and they stared at the shimmering ocean. A girl stopped at the ocean to stare at the waves. Her mother chased after her. "Mommy! Look! The waves are so pretty!"

"Dear! Get away from there!" The mother shouted.

The girl stared at her mother with confusion before turning back to the ocean. However, her view was blocked by a man with pitch black skin and shrouded by black fumes. The girl cowered in fear as she stared at the silent man's blue, soulless whole eyes—the only things visible.

Only the piercing, blue eyes of the man could be seen.

The mother dashed up to her daughter and scooped her up. "W-We're sorry, sir. My daughter can sometimes be a bit childish."

The shrouded man shook his head. "No..." The man reassured her with his deep, echoed voice. "It's no problem. You're not what I'm looking for anyways; you're just a part of it."

Before the mother could question what he meant, the man faded away into black flames.

* * *

"Ah, there you are..." The Darkness walked slowly towards the heavily guarded black vial.

The two guards stared at it with terror, wondering how it managed to appear in Planeptune's core. "H-How did you get into Planeptune's core!?"

The Darkness shrugged. "I don't know. Let's just call it chance..."

"It doesn't matter!" Another guard barked. "Leave or we'll be forced to kill you!"

The Darkness let out a laugh. "Kill me? Surely you're joking. I can't be killed. I'm the reason that you can harbor those intentions."

As the Darkness took another step closer, all the guards raised their weapons at it and turrets took aim on it. "Don't move or we'll be forced to shoot!"

It let out a laugh. "You're going to kill an innocent man? Seriously? You're going to go against your morals to kill me, someone who just managed to find their way into here? There's a certain name for that. Could you remind me?"

"Shut your damn mouth and leave this place now!" A guard barked.

"Feisty, are we?" The Darkness let out a chuckle. "That's okay. I'll let you get a tampon so that you can head to the bathroom. I know it's your time of the month."

The guard snarled at him. "What the hell did you just say!?"

"Just come with us quietly!" Another guard commanded. "If not, we'll be forced to kill you!"

The Darkness let out a sigh. "Like I said, you can't kill me. Leave, right now. Otherwise, I'll have to make graves for you all here, and I don't want to do that kind of work..."

"Damnit!" One of the guards spun to the others. "Just open fire on him!"

It shook it's head. "Such dumbasses...

As lasers and bullets rained down at it's position, the Darkness just stood there, yawning and waiting for the useless firing to stop while the shots passed through it. "Are you all done yet? I told you that none of this shit would kill me."

After several more rounds of firing, the guards all stared at the Darkness in terror as it stood there, unscathed. "W-What are you...?! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU!?"

"What am I?" It put a finger to it's chin. "I don't really have a name. I'm the culmination of all the world's hatred, all their sadness, grief and negative feelings. Actually, just call me Yami."

"Why do you want that vial so badly?!" The leading guard asked. "Why does it matter so much to you!?"

Yami chuckled as he suddenly appeared in front of the vial. He picked it up and shook it for the guards to see. "Do you know what's in this vial? It's not grape juice, I'll tell you that. No, it's the sealed Darkness of this dimension, Hyper Dimension."

"What are you talking about!?" The guards asked.

"Simple," Yami smiled. "I come from another dimension. A dimension where the Darkness there is greater. Simply put, I was absorbed by a Spawn and brought here."

"D-Does that mean..." The guards' eyes slowly widened in realization of what was about to come.

Yami let out a laugh. "That's right! And here I thought you guys didn't have any brains! Basically, I'll absorb this dimension's Darkness and kill you all!"

Without another word, Yami unsealed the thin, glass vial and let the sludge black liquid enter it's body. Suddenly, black flames exploded from it and the guards were all knocked to the wall as the mounted turrets blew up.

The guards that had managed to survive the flames picked themselves back up and stared at Yami, who was now resonating black flames. It turned to face the guards. His black body was now emitting black and crimson fumes.

"Well...it seems that Hyper Dimension's Darkness isn't quite as strong as our's..." Yami murmured. It balled up a fist. "But, it's still strong enough to boost my strength tenfold!"

"…" The guards could only stare at Yami in terror.

"Oh, that's right," Yami let out a laugh and stared at the guards. "I never did strike back against you all, did I?"

Before the guards had anytime to react, Yami formed a black sphere of energy and it shot towards the guards. The area exploded into a white light.

* * *

 **Tolise's POV**

I couldn't get a wink of sleep last night, Silver's words had clung to my mind and it also made me think about how Nepgear would react.

I stared up at the ceiling. "That kid better be alright..."

Letting out a sigh, I exited my room and headed towards the Basilicom's living room. As I arrived there, I found Hikan sitting on the couch, staring aimlessly out the window. "Hey, Hikan. What's up?"

"Hm?" His attention snapped to me before he shook his head. "Nothing... It's just that I'm worried about Silver..."

"Did he tell you what he was going to do?" I asked as I took a seat beside him.

Hikan nodded. "Yesterday, he said that he was going to leave. Guess he actually did it..."

I slumped on the couch. "You know why he left, right?"

He responded with a nod. "The Darkness, I know. I'm assuming he left to protect everyone..."

"Yeah..." I stared out the window at the Planeptune skies.

"H-Hey, Tolise!" Nepgear suddenly ran out to the living area. I turned to face her. "Do you know where Silver went?"

I frowned and glanced over at Hikan, who simply just nodded. I let out a sigh and stared Nepgear right in her eyes. "S-Silver... H-He... He left..."

For a second, Nepgear's face went blank before the corners of her eyes welled up with tears. Her body began to tremble. "W-What...did you say...?"

I bit my lip but continued to speak. "Silver's gone; he left, for good. He did this to protect you and everyone that he cared about..."

Hikan and I watched in guilt as Nepgear crumpled to her knees and the tears began to roll down her face while she stared aimlessly at the floor. "B-But...S-Silver... H-He...didn't even say goodbye..."

I bowed my head. "I-I'm...sorry..."

"…!" Overwhelmed by grief, Nepgear ran back into her room and slammed the door shut. As she did so, I heard her loud cries.

I turned to Hikan. "That poor girl..."

Hikan nodded. "I know..."

Suddenly, a bright flash blinded our vision. As the flash faded, Hikan and I ran to the window. At Planeptune's core, there was a deep crater—which didn't seem to have a bottom—that had just been made. From it, black flames were rising.

Hikan forced his attention away from the window. "Those flames... They look like the flames that had consumed Silver yesterday during our fight..."

"That must be where the Darkness is!" I balled up a fist and turned to Hikan. "Let's hurry over there!"

He nodded and we both crashed through the glass. Hikan then activated his HDD form and, grabbing me, flew us both towards the deep crater.

 _Silver... We're coming..._

* * *

 **Third Person POV**

While Neptune had been busy comforting Nepgear, the sudden quake from the explosion had sent the two sisters tumbling to the floor. As they scrambled to their feet, they rushed out to the Basilicom's living room to discover a broken window and an extremely deep crater off in the distance, smoking with black flames.

It was at that moment that Histoire, Uzume, Umio and the Adult Neptune rushed into the room to stare out at the sight.

Histoire bit her lip. "Oh dear... It's happened..."

"What's happened, Histy?" Neptune asked. "I thought we got the Happy Ending! Was there a hidden story that we didn't know about?"

"Yeah!" Adult Neptune turned to face Histoire. "I thought this was all over!"

"Histoire, what's going on?" Uzume asked.

Histoire shook her head. "It's only premonition, but I'm assuming that the Darkness managed to consume Silver. At the core of Planeptune—right where that crater is—is where Hyper Dimension's Darkness is. I'm guessing Silver's Darkness just absorbed Hyper Dimension's Darkness..."

"What's this Darkness?" Uzume asked. "Is it something similar to the other me?"

Histoire nodded. "Yes, only this Darkness is it's own entity and holds not only the negative emotions of Gamindustri, but also the negative feelings of all other dimension's as well..."

"Then we should go stop it!" Uzume said.

Histoire shook her head. "No, it's too risky. Combined with Silver's Devils and Hyper Dimension's Darkness, the Darkness isn't some force you can just rush in and take out; it's impossible."

"Then what do we do?" Neptune asked.

"…!"

Suddenly, Nepgear burst into her HDD form and rocketed out the window, towards the deep crater.

Everyone was caught off guard by this. Histoire called after her. "Nepgear! Come back, it's too dangerous!"

Neptune bit her lip and turned to Histoire. "Histy, Uzume and I will go after Nepgear. You assemble Gold Third, the other CPUs of the nations and dimensions and anyone else we know that could help out."

Histoire nodded. "Alright. Good luck to you all..."

Neptune nodded as she and Uzume activated their HDD forms. Neptune then turned to her adult self. "Climb on. We're going!"

The Adult Neptune shook her head. "I'll warp and meet you guys there."

Uzume nodded. "Alright! Then Uzume will see you there!"

Without any other words, the three of them all took off towards the core of Planeptune.

* * *

 **Tolise's POV**

I pulled away from Hikan and landed on the floor as we reached the bottom of the crater, which was a dimly lit cave.

As Hikan landed at my side, we turned to face the person sitting atop the multiple dead bodies.

"Ah, welcome. So glad you all could make it to the party..."

While the body of the Darkness was completely pitch black with resonating black and red fumes, the pitch black face crawled away to reveal Silver's face. However, this wasn't Silver, it was the Darkness that had taken over Silver.

The Darkness hopped off the pile of bodies and the pitch black covered Silver's face once again, creating a pair of piercing blue eyes. "Welcome... Thought maybe you'd want to see the face of your old friend once again. Although, that was meant for the girl to see..."

"You're the Darkness, aren't you?" Hikan questioned as we materialized our weapons.

"Oh please," The Darkness crossed it's arms. "Calling me that must be a mouthful. Instead, just call me Yami. Brings a bit of flavor in, don't you think?"

"Okay, Yami," Hikan corrected himself. "What are you planning to do?"

Yami let out a laugh. "It's quite simple. I'll kill you all. But, just to make things fun, I'll watch you all suffer before finishing things up..."

"Why are you even doing this?!" I asked. "What are you accomplishing by doing this!?"

"Man, you might be as brain-dead as the guards earlier..." Yami muttered. "It's even my name: Darkness. I'm the culmination of all the negative feelings everyone experiences. I was created because you dumbasses have those negative emotions."

"But killing people won't solve anything," I continued.

"And does everyone agree with that?" Yami asked. "You know, Tolise, better than anyone that not everyone believes that. After all, you are a Spawn..."

"It doesn't matter what I am," I tightened the grip on my sword. "I fight to protect the ones that I love!"

"Oh, really?" Yami let out a chuckle. "What if I pit you against those people then?"

I stared back into it's cold blue eyes with confusion. "What the hell are you talking about?!"

Yami nodded and snapped it's fingers. Then, a soulless version of Blanc, Neptune, Vert and Noire formed in front of him. "I'm talking about this..."

Without warning, the four fake CPUs all activated their HDD forms and sped towards us.

I gritted my teeth as Hikan and I both took stances. "Shit! Hikan, get ready!"

He nodded. "Way ahead of you!"


	157. Chapter 157

Chapter 157

 **Third Person POV**

Yami watched in satisfaction as Tolise and Hikan struggled to defeat the clones it had created. While it watched, Nepgear suddenly landed in the cave, followed closely behind by Neptune, her adult counterpart and Uzume. Amusement flickered in Yami's chilling blue eyes.

"Ah, I see that you've finally come," Yami's attention averted to Nepgear and the others while Tolise and Hikan fought behind them. "I would have set up decorations, but I didn't have the time. Care for a drink?"

"Please...please release Silver!" Nepgear pleaded.

Yami chuckled. "Oh, I've been waiting for this... But how about I tell you all a little story first? You, Nepgear, might be most familiar with it..."

"We're not here to play around!" As Neptune materialized her katana, she dashed towards Yami and slashed at it. However, she was struck with shock as she passed through Yami. "W-What the..?!"

Yami let out a sigh. "Do you see know? I can't be killed. Now, listen to my story by the campfire and I might consider your request."

Neptune, with an unsatisfied expression, let her blade disappear. "Fine..."

Yami nodded. "Good. So, let me tell you a tale that you should be familiar with. Do you all remember ASIC and the Deity of Sin?"

"Why?" Neptune asked. "What does ASIC have to do with this?"

"Simple," Yami responded. "Before you all had gone to fight the Deity of Sin, a decision could have been made by Nepgear; it was a decision that could have changed what happened to you all..."

"What are you talking about?" Nepgear asked. "What about me could have changed what happened to everyone?"

Yami stared into her eyes with it's ice blue eyes. "Have you ever heard of the cursed blade Gehaburn?"

Neptune's eyes suddenly widened in terror. "Y-You don't mean..."

Yami cackled out a laugh. "Yes... I'm talking about that cursed blade! Gehaburn, the sword which becomes exponentially stronger for every CPU that is killed by it..."

"What does that have to do with me!?" Nepgear asked. "I just want Silver back..."

"N-Nepgear..." Suddenly, the pitch black skin crept away from it's skin, revealing Silver's face.

He collapsed to his knees and cried. "I-I'm...sorry..."

"Silver!" As Nepgear caught sight of his face, she ran towards him.

"Hey, Gearsy! Come back!" Uzume called out to her.

However, her warnings were meaningless as she ran up and wrapped her arms around him. "Silver, I'm here!"

"Nepgear...I'm sorry..." His eyes stared deep into her's.

"Nepgear! Get away right now!" Adult Neptune shouted.

"Heh..." The second Nepgear turned away from Yami, the pitch black skin covered it's face again. Suddenly it took a hold of Nepgear and pulsed a black energy into her.

"A-Ah..." As the energy struck her, Nepgear fell to the floor; her body was trembling as dark flames began to emit from her and her eyes turned to a dark indigo shade, becoming hollow.

"What did you do to Nepgear!" Neptune shouted.

Yami turned to Neptune. "Simple. I altered her brain a bit. See, there's this thing called Multiverse Theory, which is basically a series of different dimensions, where each one decision was made differently and altered their dimension. In one of the many dimensions, Nepgear had wielded Gehaburn and had killed all the CPUs to gain enough power to destroy the Deity of Sin. It's what I like to refer to as the Conquest Ending..."

Neptune stared at her younger sister in terror. "S-So...you..."

Yami nodded. "That's right. All Nepgear has in her mind now is to kill all of the CPUs to gain ultimate power. Except, she also now wants to kill anyone close to her in general, to sever her ties to them and start anew. That bit was added by me. All of this is because she wants to 'save Gamindustri.'"

"I-It must happen..." Nepgear suddenly dragged her body back up and she faced Neptune, Uzume and Adult Neptune with dark, hollowed eyes. "I...must kill...to protect..."

Tears began to stream down Neptune's cheeks as Nepgear approached her, Uzume and Adult Neptune. "N-Nepgear..."

"Oh, I almost forgot..." Yami snapped it's fingers. In an instant, Nepgear's blade suddenly turned into the cursed blade Gehaburn. It emitted a dark flame. "There. This version of the Gehaburn doesn't just power up for every CPU killed; it powers up for ANY person that's killed. Now, things will get interesting..."

"Nepgear, please, don't do this..." Adult Neptune pleaded.

"Gearsy, stop being so scary," Uzume begged.

"Nepgear, don't strike down the people that you love..." Neptune begged. "All of these people care about you..."

Nepgear's colorless eyes stared deep into her sister's. "You're right...I won't strike you down...Not yet..."

"Haa..." As Hikan sliced the head off of the fake Vert and the four fake CPUs disappeared, he turned to Tolise. "Done?"

Tolise nodded. "Yeah, I'm don—"

"No, you're not..."

As the two of them turned around, Nepgear appeared in front of them. Before either could do anything, Nepgear slashed a wave of energy at both of them, knocking them both to the floor.

"W-What the hell!?" Tolise clutched his searing gash that had been created across his chest.

"That's some real power..." Hikan forced himself back to his feet and turned to face Nepgear. "Nepgear, stop!"

Her dull eyes stared back at them. "Stop? Why would I stop? If I do this, then it can help lead Gamindustri to a better future. Don't you see? I'm doing this to bring peace to Gamindustri..."

"You're not you right now!" Tolise shouted. "Snap out of it!"

"I am awake..." Nepgear said with a chilling tone. "I don't want to kill any of you, but this is the only way to save Gamindustri... I'm sorry..."

Nepgear appeared in front of them and pinned them both to the floor. She then raised the Gehaburn, it burned with dark energy. "Goodbye..."

"...!" Nepgear suddenly jumped back as Neptune slashed at her, barely avoiding the blade.

Nepgear landed on her feet and turned to face her sister. "Neptune... Please, just let it happen..."

"Nepgear, this isn't like you!" Neptune shouted. "Come back to your senses! Do you really want to kill all of these people that you have grown to love!?"

Nepgear shook her head. "Of course not... But, if it can save Gaminudstri, I will do it. Even if it is my own beloved older sister."

Neptune tightened the grip on her blade. Turning her head away, Neptune let out a quiet sob as she raised her blade at her own sister. "Nepgear...I'm so sorry..."

Neptune activated her NEXT Form and jetted towards Nepgear. Time seemed to slow down as the two locked eyes.

As Neptune brought her sword down on Nepgear, the Gehaburn roared with dark energy. Nepgear then stepped up to Neptune and parried her blow. While Neptune was left open, Nepgear kicked her in the gut.

A ripple of force spread through Neptune's body before she was sent crashing into the rocky walls.

Yami watched with satisfaction as Neptune forced herself out of the rubble and sped back towards Nepgear. "I was right. This is so much more entertaining than doing it myself."

Nepgear stared down her sister as she charged at her. Nepgear stepped out of the way of Neptune's blade and kicked her away once again.

As Nepgear's kick sent Neptune flying, a pair of swords shot towards her.

Nepgear alternated legs and kicked one blade away before using Gehaburn to slash the other blade in half. Nepgear then turned her attention up to see Adult Neptune.

The moment their eyes locked, Adult Neptune pulled out a pistol and began firing away at Nepgear.

Nepgear took a step back and began deflecting the bullets. Once Adult Neptune reloaded, Nepgear jumped up towards her.

The closer Nepgear got to her, the more bullets Adult Neptune aimed towards her face. However, Nepgear deflected them all.

Just as Adult Neptune ran out of bullets, Nepgear appeared in front of her and slashed at her. Just before the Gehaburn made contact with Adult Neptune, Uzume kicked Nepgear away.

Performing a spinning motion, Nepgear bounced off the walls and lunged towards Uzume.

The Gehaburn's energy roared once again and Nepgear slashed at Uzume.

Uzume countered by filling her fists with energy and blocking the slash. Before Nepgear retracted her blade, Uzume kicked Nepgear down to the floor. Uzume then blasted sound waves at Nepgear as she crashed into the floor.

However, Nepgear slashed an energy wave and sliced the sound waves in half, causing them to hit the floor next to her. Nepgear then kicked herself back to her feet and lunged towards Uzume once again.

This time, Nepgear reached her before Uzume could do anything. In an instant, Nepgear sliced the head right off of Uzume.

Blood spilled out as her body went limp and Uzume's head hit the floor, rolling around.

Nepgear then landed and smashed the head as she stared at Uzume's headless body. Gehaburn suddenly flared to life with dark energy. "That's one..."

"…!" As Adult Neptune tried to stab Nepgear from behind, she spun around and slashed at her. For a second, Adult Neptune remained still. But, a second later, she was cut into two and her body fell to the floor limply.

"Nepgear... How could you..." Nepgear turned her head to the sound of her sister's voice. Neptune stared at Nepgear in horror. "How could you kill the very people that you loved!?"

"Because, Neptune..." Nepgear's dark eyes glinted for a second. "This is to save everyone."

"Who are you saving them from!?" Neptune asked. "You're not saving anyone!"

Nepgear shook her head and raised Gehaburn at her sister. "Yes, I am saving them. I'm saving them from themselves..."

"Oh? Who here decided to have a good time without me?" A familiar voice asked.

Neptune's eyes widened as she and Nepgear looked up. Hovering in the air were the Ultra Dimension CPUs in their HDD forms. Plutia, Peashy, Noire, Blanc and Vert. "P-Plutia!?"

"Dear Neppy... Did you really think I wouldn't join the fun?" Plutia formed a wicked smile as she stared at the blood-stained Nepgear. "Oh, Neppy Jr., I'll have to punish you most severely for not inviting me to this party..."

Nepgear's cold eyes stared back into Plutia's sadistic eyes. "Do you really want to do that?"

"Oh... That's so cold of you to say after we just met after such a long time..." Plutia let out a maniacal laugh. "Looks like I'll really have to punish you!"

"Neptuna! What's wrong with Nepgear?" Peashy asked Neptune.

The Ultra Noire, Blanc and Vert all floated down. "Yeah. She definitely wasn't like this last time."

Neptune gripped her blade tightly. "It's similar to the power that had infested Rei. Only this energy is way more powerful and her mind has been altered."

"So what should we do?" The Ultra Vert asked. "We don't want to strike down Nepgear and, if we contain her, she'll still try to kill us."

Plutia remained smiling. "I say we punish her until she decides to be a good girl!"

Neptune shook her head. "You can't just take her on. She's way stronger than anyone we've ever fought before."

Hikan and Tolise stepped up. "We'll cause a distraction. You six have to either render her useless or kill her."

Plutia shrugged as she cracked her whip. "I don't mind either. Just make sure that I get a chance to torture her..."

"Plutia, just keep your guard up," Ultra Noire advised.

At Ultra Noire's last words, Hikan and Tolise dashed towards Nepgear.

As Hikan burst into flames and slashed at her, Nepgear swept them away with dark energy.

The instant Hikana and Tolise were blown back, Nepgear sprinted towards them and slashed at both of them. Nepgear's feet touched the floor and Hikan and Tolise fell to the floor, decapitated.

While Gehaburn flared up with more dark energy, Plutia and Ultra Noire swung at her from behind.

Plutia's blade was brought down and Nepgear caught it by the blade. While blood trickled down her hand, Nepgear ripped the blade away from Plutia.

Plutia fell forward and Nepgear slashed off her head and knocked away Ultra Noire's sword before letting go of Plutia's blade.

The second Plutia's head rolled to the floor, Nepgear pulled the Ultra Noire close and stabbed Gehaburn through her heart.

"…"

Nepgear pulled the blade from Ultra Noire's body and kicked her away, splattering more blood onto Nepgear.

Gehaburn erupted to life with more dark energy as Peashy, Ultra Blanc and Vert came at Nepgear from all sides.

Nepgear locked Ultra Vert's spear in place. She then kicked Vert away, taking her spear. Before the others could hit her, Nepgear used Gehaburn and the spear to sweep them all away.

As Ultra Blanc and Peashy were knocked away, Nepgear threw the spear back at Vert.

The spear stabbed through Ultra Vert's head and she fell back; a pool of blood formed underneath her.

Ultra Blanc slammed her axe down on Nepgear as Gehaburn flared with more dark energy.

Nepgear used Gehaburn and slashed the axe in half before it made contact with her. While Ultra Blanc fell forward, Nepgear stepped forward and slashed off Ultra Blanc's head.

As Nepgear kicked Ultra Blanc's limp body away, Peashy charged at her from behind.

Nepgear countered by blocking Peashy's claws and jerked her blade a certain way, causing Peashy to lose balance. Before Peashy stumbled over, Nepgear stepped up to Peashy and stabbed the blade through her.

Peashy's body slid off of the blade and the Gehaburn's power increased once again. Blood now drenched Nepgear as she stared at her Neptune.

A shadow cast over Nepgear's face and she turned to face her older sister. "Come on, Neptune. I'll make it quick for you..."

"Nepgear! Please stop!" Neptune pleaded. "Please! This isn't solving anything! Peashy, Plutia and them aren't even from this dimension! They were your dear friends!"

"It was all to save Gamindustri," Nepgear repeated. "I'm sorry..."

"Hold on!"

As Nepgear and Neptune looked up once again, Noire, Blanc, Vert and the CPU Candidates landed at Neptune's side. The CPUs were all in their NEXT Forms while the Candidates were in their HDD forms.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Vert apologized as the six of them materialized their weapons. "Histoire told us the situation was serious... But to think that I'd have to fight my beloved Nepgear..."

"I-I don't wanna fight Miss Nepgear..." Rom murmured.

"It doesn't matter," Blanc said. She nodded towards Yami. "We just have to incapacitate her. If we stop the Darkness controlling Silver, then we can fix everything."

"That may be true, but Nepgear has managed to take out several CPUs already," Noire nodded towards the dead CPUs behind the bloody Nepgear. "We can't let our guard down against her, even if she is Neptune's younger sister..."

Blanc turned to Neptune. "Hey, Neptune. You have to get over your feelings and fight your sister."

Neptune shook her head. "B-But..."

"Neptune, Nepgear is in need of help right now," Vert said. "If we don't stop her now, Gamindustri will be destroyed. Put away your emotions and protect your people."

"Neptune, I know how you're feeling," Uni said. "I don't want to have to fight Nepgear either. But I'm putting that aside so that I can protect the people."

Neptune tightened the grip on her sword and nodded. "Alright..."

As Nepgear stared down the CPUs, they all charged towards her.

Yami stared at Nepgear while she continued to fight against the CPUs, holding her own against all seven of them

"Hm?" Hearing the sound of people landing, Yami turned it's attention away from Nepgear's battle. Standing there were the Gold Third. "Ah, Gold Third. Good to see you. Anything interesting happen recently?"

"Besides that giant crater that appeared in Planeptune, I don't think so," C-Sha responded.

The four Gold Third members activated their Gold Forms and materialized their weapons.

Yami let out a sigh. "Seriously? You're going to try to fight me too? You do realize you can't hurt me, right?"

"We won't know unless we try!"

The four Gold Third members charged towards Yami. However, they passed through it as they struck at it. They turned back, surprised.

Yami turned it's attention to the four of them. "I told you, didn't I?"

Before any of the Gold Third members could do anything, Yami formed a black sphere of energy and it shot out towards them. The Gold Third members were then slammed against the walls with tremendous force.

"It would be boring if you have to fight me," Yami said once the Gold Third freed themselves from the wall. "I can't exactly be hurt. So, why not fight Nepgear instead?"

On cue, Nepgear slashed through Blanc, Vert and Noire. She then finished off by slashing the heads off the CPU Candidates. Dead, she kicked them away, leaving Neptune as the last CPU.

However, instead of finishing off Neptune, Nepgear turned her attention to Gold Third and charged at them.


	158. Chapter 158

Chapter 158

 **Silver's POV**

 _ **"You're worthless..."**_

 _ **"No matter you're intentions, you'll always be a killer..."**_

 _ **"The world hates me, just like it hates you..."**_

 _My head throbbed while words shouted and rang through my skull. My eyes fluttered open to see nothing but a pitch black void, one that was tainted by red and black wisps._

 _My vision was blurred, I couldn't muster any strength and every part of me ached. As I tried to move around, I winced with pain as I felt something binding me tightly down._

 _For some reason, my body was pouring with sweat and my muscles were tightened so much that they felt like they were going to all snap._

 _"Hello, friend..."_

 _A chilling voice echoed through the void, one that I was all too familiar with._

 _Instead of a silhouette forming in front of me like usual, a pitch black body formed in front of me; it had a pair of chilling blue eyes and black and red flames resonated from it._

 _"How do you like your new home?" It asked as it walked up to me. "Snug, right?"_

 _"Why are you doing this?" I hoarsed out. For some reason, my voice was gone. "What are you accomplishing by doing this?"_

 _The Darkness just shook it's head. "You already know why... I'm going to destroy the world by consuming it in Darkness... I'm going to make everyone go against their morals and show them what they've created from hating one another... Think of it as showing them their nihilism that they're trying to hide..."_

 _"Why bother with that?" I asked._

 _It turned back to me. "Cause you people are all dumbasses!"_

 _I stared deep into it's dead blue eyes. "…"_

 _"You know of all that bullshit! Yin and Yang, Black and White, Good and Bad, whatever!" The Darkness said. "The point is, there needs to be a balance. However, the world has become a cancerous place! And that's why I formed into this entity!"_

 _It continued to speak. "Without me, you creatures of this planet wouldn't be able to experience proper emotions! Without my feelings, the negative ones, you all wouldn't be able to experience the good ones, the happy feelings! If I wasn't around, the world would become an emotionless hell! You know why? Because people would always know peace. It's because of that that they'll forget what true happiness and peace is without that Darkness!"_

 _The Darkness leaned it's face close to mine and stared me dead in the eyes. "That's why I exist... I'm the manifestation of all that hate... I'm everyone's Shadow merged into one entity..."_

 _I shook my head. "Still... What you're doing isn't right!"_

 _"Why not?" It asked. "That's what our world had become anyways! I'm just speeding up the process here! Why are you so determined to get rid of me, the balance?"_

 _For a second, I just stared at it. I then let out a sigh. "It's true. I admit that, without the balance, we couldn't survive... It's also because of these that I was able to meet the people that I did... People need those emotions to live properly. Without them, we'd be helpless and lost because we couldn't feel the bad emotions, the emotions that allowed us to know what the good ones were..._

 _"It's because our world was so ruined by Darkness that they knew what to do with the peace that came after, the peace after I absorbed you. Because they knew the pain and struggled to the end, they found happiness at the end of the road..."_

 _"…" As I finished up, the Darkness' chilling blues eyes stared into me, silently. "Are you referring to what that man, Friedrich Nietzsche, said once?"_

 _I nodded. "You were speaking about nihilism earlier. Nietzsche said that the world would eventually become consumed by nihilism. So, he tried to speed up the process. Just like how you're trying to speed up Darkness' consumption of the world, because it will happen anyways..."_

 _The Darkness nodded. "But I know what you're referring to... You're referring to the after: what happens after the world is consumed in Darkness, right?"_

 _"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm referring to," I admitted. "But don't you see that your goal of consuming the world in Darkness—to make it what it will eventually become—is completely pointless? Right after, the world shall be reborn and peace will be born from that. Don't you see that it's pointless to consume the world in Darkness to make the world work?"_

 _Seeming to ponder my question with it's eyes, the Darkness just stared back at me. "Then tell me something. Why do you care so much about your friends? Bonds like those only end up being destroyed. It hurts, even if you do the right thing..."_

 _I formed a smile. "It does hurt, that's true... But, without them, I wouldn't have become who I had today. They allowed me to live a happy life and survive, even if the world was consumed by Darkness. They kept me going... And, because of that, I'll always be there for them and never give up on them..."_

 _"Clearly, you don't suck at the Question Game," the Darkness said before letting out a sigh. "Then here's another one. Do you know what your Devils' levels of strength represent?"_

 _I shook my head._

 _The Darkness nodded before giving away the answer. "They're basically levels of evil and hate, divided into three stages. After all, you do have two Devils inside of you."_

 _It held up it's index finger. "The first stage is morality, which is basically your beliefs of what are good and bad. For many, people who go against their morality lose who they are. This stage usually lasts for a week or so."_

 _It then raised another finger. "The second stage is concentration. The things that had torn you apart during the first stage becomes concentrated into something that either completely destroys you or it manifests into stage three, the final stage."_

 _The Darkness then raised a third and final finger. "And the final stage is wisdom. If your feelings destroy you, then you let go, allowing the Darkness in you to take control of you. You'll lose yourself._

 _"The reason you could become my vessel, not Tolise, was because you were given the blessing of Lucifer himself when you were born. You had enough hate to contain all the evil and hatred in me..." It finished._

 _"So you're telling me the three levels are representations of human's Darkness?" I questioned._

 _The Darkness shrugged. "You could put it like that... But, what's currently going on now is a perfect example of that..."_

 _I gritted my teeth. "What are you talking about?"_

 _"Here," The Darkness snapped it's fingers and a vision suddenly appeared in my head._

 _From an overhead view, I saw Nepgear, drenched in blood. However, she was standing over a pile of bodies. The bodies were of the dead CPUs, Gold Third and even Tolise. Nepgear gripped a blade roaring with dark energy as she approached Neptune, her older sister and the last CPU alive._

 _"What's that blade Nepgear is holding?" I asked the Darkness._

 _"It's the Gehaburn, a cursed blade which powers up for every person killed," It answered. "Now, tell me something. What would you do in that situation? Kill your lover, or allow her to kill everyone you ever loved? Go against your morals, or don't? It's pointless which one you chose..."_

 _"No, you're wrong," I shook my head and glared right into the Darkness' icy blue eyes. "I'll find a way to save Nepgear, even if I have to die. Even if I have to give my own life, I'll save her; her life is more important than mine..."_

 _"Really?" It questioned. "But you'll be forgotten soon after your death. Sure, you'll be mourned for a while, but you'll eventually be forgotten, even by Nepgear. You'll just be like a gust of wind. You'll blow against people before disappearing. Why bother?"_

 _"No, it does matter," I snapped back. "If it wasn't for Nepgear or anyone else, I wouldn't have found hope. Because of that, I want to give her hope and save her."_

 _"Oh? Really?" It's eyes flickered with curiosity for a second. "How about I make things interesting then?"_

 _I cocked my head at it. "What do you mean?"_

 _It nodded. "I'm going to free you. I want to see what you'll do against your own lover. After all, the only thing Nepgear has on her mind right now is to kill everyone to gain ultimate power. To 'save Gamindustri'. She's stronger than anyone right now."_

 _I nodded. "I'll do it. If I can save her, I will."_

 _"Really?" It asked. "Even if I were to take away all of your powers? Even if I take away your Devils and other abilities, you'll still try to save her?"_

 _I nodded firmly. "I said it and I'm NOT going to go back on my word. I made so many promises to Nepgear. I'm not going to break them!"_

 _It chuckled. "Alright then. Then I'll help you a bit. Well, depending on what happens, I might help you..."_

 _Suddenly, I fell and crumpled to my knees as I was freed. My injuries healed. I looked up at the Darkness. "You'll be human once again. Good luck, Silver Aurum..."_

 _I smiled as the void around began to melt into a white, blinding my vision before I woke up..._


	159. Chapter 159

Chapter 159

 **Third Person POV**

"Gah!" Neptune fell to the ground as her weapon disappeared and she was kicked from her NEXT Form, reverting back to her normal form. Approaching her was her younger sister with only intentions of killing her.

"Neptune... I'm sorry..." Nepgear murmured. The Gehaburn blazed with dark energy. "But killing you is the only way Gamindustri can be saved..."

Tears stained Neptune's face. "N-Nepgear...W-Why...?"

"Goodbye...sister..." Nepgear turned her face away.

"NEPGEAR!" As Nepgear impaled her sister in the gut, an all-too-familiar voice called out to her.

"S-Silver..." Nepgear slid her now deceased sister to the floor and turned to face her lover. Her colorless eyes stared into his jade green eyes. "What are you doing...?"

Silver balled up a fist and slowly approached Nepgear. "I'm going to save you..."

* * *

 **Silver's POV**

"Save me?" Nepgear began building up a laugh of insanity. "Save me from what?!"

"I'm going to save you from your demise..." I said. "Please, don't do this. Don't cut away all your ties..."

"SHUT UP! YOU HAVE NO ROOM TO TALK!" She shouted back at me. She then lunged towards me and I prepared myself. "YOU CUT YOUR TIES WITH US AND DIDN'T EVEN SAY ANYTHING ABOUT IT!"

Her speed was insanely fast. Managing to somehow avoid her first slash, I focused on her arm movements to see where the next strike would go. While I avoided the slashes by hairs, tears to my attire were created by the sword while I continued to focus on dodging.

Her movements slowed down for a second and I jumped away, catching my breath. "Nepgear, please stop..."

"I-It's all because of you..." Her dark eyes sent shivers down my spine. "It's because of you that I was brought so much pain and misery! You told me nothing but false promises and said nothing but hollowed words! You kept telling me killing was wrong, but you're wrong..."

"Nepgear, stop," I pleaded. "You're not you right now!"

"Shut your mouth!" Nepgear snapped back. "You sound just like everyone else! You're all just gullible! Peace wouldn't even be a thing unless Darkness existed! And the only way to destroy the Darkness is to kill all the people of Gamindustri; I'll reset history and create a new one!"

I shook my head. "No, Nepgear. That's not the answer. You'll only be recreating the Darkness!"

"No! Shut up! Stop telling me these lies!" Nepgear shouted. She sped towards me. "I'M TIRED OF YOUR LIES!"

In an instant, I found Nepgear in front of me. However, I didn't dodge and allowed her blade to be stabbed through my gut.

The pain struck and I felt all of my strength trickle away as I coughed out blood.

I stared into Nepgear's hollow eyes. For a second, her eyes showed surprise. "W-Why... Why didn't you dodge and avoid my attack? Why did you let me kill you...?"

"T-There's...no point...in trying to...fight back..." I coughed out. "B-B-Besides... Y-You were right... I-I...c-couldn't keep...every...promise..."

"...Y-You..." Nepgear gritted her teeth before pulling the blade out of me and kicking me away.

I rolled on the ground as my vision blurred. I was rapidly losing all of my strength while I was also losing blood. However, I forced myself back to my feet, barely able to stay standing.

"WHY WON'T YOU JUST DIE!?" Nepgear shouted before lunging towards me.

Even though it was just a blur, I felt the searing slashes cut my body, draining my strength even faster. I felt my strength leave my body as my vision was slowly being consumed by crimson.

"NOBODY WAS EVER THERE FOR ME WHEN I REALLY NEEDED IT! THE ONLY TIME PEOPLE WERE THERE FOR ME WAS BEFORE THEY ALL LEFT ME FOREVER!" Nepgear shouted while she continued to slash away at me. "YOU WERE NEVER TRULY THERE FOR ME! ALL YOU DID WAS LIE TO ME!"

"…!" I was then slammed into the floor and pinned down by the Gehaburn. _N-Nepgear..._

Just before the red completely consumed my vision, I felt a sudden burst of adrenaline enter my body. "N-No..."

Using what strength I had, I pulled the Gehaburn from my gut and tossed it away.

I then took Nepgear's hand, squeezing it as I stared into her eyes. While she stared at me in shock, I pulled her close and kissed her forehead. I pulled away and saw color slowly coming back to her eyes. Suddenly, tears began to roll down her cheeks.

"D-Don't cry..." I forced the words out of my mouth. "I-It's true that...I can't always be there...for you... I-I...can't save you...every time... B-But...I do care about you... I-I'd...die to...save you..."

"S-Silver...I-I'm sorry...!" Nepgear wrapped her arms around me, her tears rolled onto my bloody face. "P-Please...don't leave me! I can't do this alone!"

"H-Hey..." I forced my best smile and kissed her softly at her lips. She stared at me in shock. "I-I...don't care...You're the best thing that ever happened to my life..."

My body fell as the adrenaline left my body. I stared up at her. "I-I-I'm glad...that I could...protect you..."

As I uttered out my last words, the white light consumed my vision. I smiled though.

 _"Looks like this is the end, huh?"_

 _"Don't lie to me. You're not that type of person..." It said._

 _I let out a dry laugh. "Yeah... You're right..."_

* * *

 **Third Person POV**

Nepgear's body trembled as she stared at the dead body in front of her; her hands were soaked in blood. "N-No...S-Silver..."

Her lover, the person that she had loved, her family, her loved ones... They were all dead... And it was all done by her...

Before she knew it, tears were streaming down her face.

She let out a cry and sobbed into Silver's chest. She continued to cry and sob, unsure of what to do. "I-I'm sorry...I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

While she mourned, a red energy escaped from her. The red energy that Silver had given Nepgear once to save her. The energy that escaped from Nepgear and entered Silver's body.

While Nepgear cried, Silver then began to emit red energy.


	160. Chapter 160

Chapter 160

 **Silver's POV**

 _I floated in a white space, weak and staring up towards a light that was slowly approaching me. Whoever I was, I didn't care... I was ready to accept what the light brought upon me..._

 _"…"_

 _Just as the light began to blind me, it suddenly turned to a crimson shade, almost the color of blood._

 _"…"_

 _As the crimson light swallowed me, I felt all of my strength return to me._

 _"…!"_

 _Suddenly, I felt memories all pour into my skull. The memories of why I couldn't give up._

 _"I-I...can't die yet..."_

 _I watched as my body began to radiate my Devils' energy, filling me with strength. I then forced myself to my feet. As I did so, a familiar face appeared in front of me, the Darkness, for some reason still in it's humanoid form._

 _"Are you here to consume me again?" I asked it as the space around turned to a crimson color. "Because I won't let you stop me from saving Nepgear and rebuilding the bonds I've built."_

 _"No, I'm actually not here to stop you," it replied. It's blue eyes stared deep into mine. "I also do know that hatred is needed in the world and that there needs to be a balance between the positive and negative emotions._

 _"It's because you're willing to risk your life to keep that balance and that you know how the world should be maintained that I'll grant you my powers. I'll grant you these powers so that you can ensure that the balance is kept, so that true peace can be maintained..."_

 _I nodded. "I'll use them wisely..."_

 _The Darkness nodded before forming a dark ball of energy. The ball then entered me and I felt my body go ice cold for a second, crumpling me to my knees, before it disappeared. I then rose back to my feet._

 _The Darkness' body then turned into complete light for a second before it formed into a ball of light. The Darkness then returned to it's form and held the ball of light._

 _It looked up at me. "In addition, I'll also give you this; this is the thing that comes after the world is consumed by Darkness, the Light: The Hope. I believe you can also use these powers to help maintain true peace..."_

 _The Light then entered my body and I felt myself become overwhelmed in warm feelings and joy. I then smiled and nodded at the Darkness. "Thank you. I'll use these powers wisely..."_

 _The Darkness chuckled. "It's Yami, you whore..."_

 _As I let out a laugh and stared at the Darkness, a white light consumed my vision and I woke up..._

* * *

 **Third Person POV**

Nepgear stared at all the dead bodies in horror, the people that she had killed with her own two hands.

She crumpled to her knees as she took the Gehaburn. "N-No... I don't deserve to live... I'll end this...by ending my life..."

Nepgear rose to her feet and held the Gehaburn's blade at her throat. She was too drained to form anymore tears. "I'm sorry, everyone..."

She squeezed her eyes shut and stabbed the blade into her. "…!"

* * *

 **Silver's POV**

I woke up again. This time, I woke up to see Nepgear getting ready to kill herself. In a blink, I found myself in front of Nepgear. Just before the blade entered her, I jerked the blade away.

"…." Nepgear then dropped the Gehaburn as she stared at me in disbelief.

I stared deep into her eyes. "I said that I would save you and that I'd be there to protect you, no matter what..."

"S-Silver..." Nepgear stared at me for a second before wrapping her arms around me, sobbing into my chest. Her body trembled. "H-How...? How can I fix this!? I've killed so many! I don't know what to do!"

I brushed her hair away from her face and my lips brushed against her's. I smiled at her. "Don't worry... Everything will be fine... I promise..."

Nepgear stared into my eyes with a doubtful expression. "B-But—"

I smiled and used my new-found powers to create a bright ball of energy. While Nepgear stared at it in awe, I hurled it up into the skies high above.

As we stared at it, it blew up into an explosion of flashing golden lights, enveloping both of us.

"…" Nepgear watched in amazement as the world around her changed rapidly in front of her eyes.

Eventually the golden light faded away and revealed the world. Nepgear gasped at what she saw.

Not only had her sister and everyone else she had killed been revived, but the deep crater in Planeptune was now no longer there, as if it never existed. All of the destruction Nepgear had caused had been erased.

She whirled her attention to me, fumbling for the words. "H-How...W-What...did you...?"

I placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled. "Everyone's memories of all that have also been erased. Only the two of us know of that now. It's as if the whole ordeal never actually happened, like it was just a bad dream..."

"…" Nepgear could only stare at me with an agape mouth.

"Now..." I turned my attention away from her and approached the last remaining threat that lay on the ground: the cursed blade, Gehaburn. I poured the Light's power into a sword, forming it.

I then took the longsword and slashed at the Gehaburn.

As the Light's golden energy consumed it, the Gehaburn let out a hiss of cries before shattering into millions of crystals. The crystals then disappeared.

I sighed and allowed the Light's longsword to disappear before turning my attention to Nepgear; she still seemed awestruck by everything that had happened in the past five minutes.

I walked right up to her, staring her in the eyes. "Nepgear, I told and promised you that I would never leave you, and I meant that. I know our relationship can come with issues, but I'll always do my best to solve them.

"...S-Silver..." Nepgear stared at me, still unable to comprehend everything.

"That being said, they do say dreams are born from chaos. So..." I smiled before forming a ring in my hand. The golden energy faded from it, producing a platinum ring with a diamond.

I let out a deep breath and got on one knee as everyone gathered around. I then offered the ring to my lover, Nepgear. "Will you marry me?"

* * *

 **Third Person POV**

A year had passed since Nepgear and Silver had gotten engaged, and eventually married. Peace had returned to Gamindustri, with nobody remembering the incident of Darkness, except for Silver Aurum and Nepgear.

Soon after Silver and Nepgear had wedded, Hikan Masato had proposed to Blanc. She had accepted and they were married by the end of the year after.

Tolise had gotten engaged to Neptune and were planning their wedding. However, Neptune—being as lazy as ever—had put it off many times.

While the Tolise and Neptune talked of a wedding date, Silver sat in his office—in his and Nepgear's new suite built in the Planeptune Basilicom.

"…" He sat there, staring at his painting. "Hmm..."

"Silver, what's wrong?" Nepgear asked. She wrapped her arms around him and brushed her lips against his cheek.

Silver smiled and turned to face his wife, the girl he had fallen in love with. Her hair was now up in a ponytail and her body was much more developed.

He caressed her cheek. "I still can't get over the fact that you managed to find a way to change your age to mine..."

Nepgear responded by smiling. "I think it's better if we're both the same age. If we're married, I like it better this way. I want to grow and die with you..."

Silver nodded, flipping his hair away. "Yeah, so do I. I wouldn't have it any other way..."

"By the way, what's that painting?" Nepgear asked curiously. She pointed towards the painting Silver had been working on.

"Oh, this," Silver also turned his attention back to his painting. "Well, this painting is supposed to symbolize people's lives..."

"Really?" Nepgear stared at the painting.

The canvas was painted with a small, terrified boy, lost in the large, dark woods. Black shadows were slowly creeping up to the boy as he slowly made his way through the woods. At the corner of the woods, there was an opening of light.

"Could you explain it to me?" Nepgear asked.

Silver nodded before pointing towards the canvas. "The small, scared boy represents all of us, humans. Those dark shadows are supposed to represent how everyone is cloaked in negative emotions—like the Darkness, Yami..."

Nepgear shivered from hearing it's name. "P-Please don't remind me of that..."

"Sorry," Silver squeezed Nepgear's hand. He then nodded back to the painting. "Anyways, those shadows closing in on the boy—us—are representing that we are all consumed by dark and negative emotions."

Silver then pointed towards the slit of light shining dimly in the forest. "And that tiny light there represents the hope at the end of it all, the miracle that comes after all the negativity that we've faced. It's the goal that's keeping us from becoming lost in the Darkness..."

Silver then smiled and turned back to Nepgear. "That light is the thing that eventually shines on the Darkness and becomes who we are..."

Nepgear nodded. "I think I understand the painting now..."

"Really? I thought you could understand it," Silver said.

"Yeah..." Nepgear let out a sigh. "So, are you going to sell the painting or name it or anything?"

Silver rose from his office chair and stretched out his arms. "Sell it? No. Name it? Yup!"

"Then what are you going to name it?" Nepgear asked curiously.

Silver formed a wide grin as he stared at the painting.

"Colors of Darkness..."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This is the end of the story!**

 **If some of you are disappointed that there were only six chapters and that the chapters weren't the longest, I apologize. However, the reason I started writing this story wasn't just to make a Fanfiction. It was to create a story with a meaning, not just a story that was interesting. If you have made it this far, I thank you all for sticking around for so long. But I do hope that you all take the meaning of this story to heart.**

 **Anyways, now that the story is over, I'll be busy creating the sequel to Colors of Darkness. Once the sequel is done, I'll start uploading chapters consistently. I can't promise when the sequel will be done. But, to be safe, you should assume that it should be finished by late 2017 or early 2018. If I'm lucky, it may be done before that. Who knows?  
**

 **But, thank you all, from the bottom of my heart! If it wasn't for you all, I wouldn't have been able to create this story. Thank you all so much for leaving reviews, favoriting the story, PMing me, following this story and even taking your own time to read it.**

 **Also, if you wish to reach me, either PM me or join the Discord server with my other Fanfiction buddies. The link is on my page.**

 **But alas, that's all I have to say. Without any of you, none of this would be possible.**

 **Tomorrow is the last day of the year, New Year's Eve. Whatever may have happened during this crazy year, good or bad, I hope you all have a better 2017 and that you can all fulfill your resolutions. One of my New Year's Resolutions is to make the sequel an even better story.**

 **So, thank you all for reading my story and I hope to see you all next time in whatever I make!**

 **:)**

* * *

 _Red..._


End file.
